Distracted
by PartyPanda
Summary: Everyone gets distracted every once in a while - and that's o.k. Except when you're haunted by a serial killer who does not want to share attention. Jane has to find that out the hard way. Set around season 4. Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

Distracted Chapter One:

"So, did you have a nice night with agent Wilson?" Jane asked. He took a sip from his hot tea.

Lisbon threw him an angry look. "Jane, for the last time, stop asking me these questions! I will not discuss my sex life with you! Mind your own business!"

Jane smiled. "I find it remarkable that you said _sex _life, not _love_ life. But then again, there was that guy at the bar last Friday, and the office plumber last month, so it probably isn't love…"

Lisbon looked something between embarrassed and angry, but before she could form some snidy remark, Jane continued amusedly.

"Hey, Lisbon, don't be angry with me. I just want you to be happy, but I'm not so sure if those kind of men are right for-"

He got cut off by the sound of a ringing phone, which the increasingly annoyed-looking Lisbon answered faster than a forty-year old single after a hot date.

She stated her name, said some "yes-sirs", and "right away sir" and hung up. She looked relieved. "Sorry, Jane, that was Wainwright, I have to go," she said triumphantly. Jane smiled as she walked away, and decided to stay put on her couch.

* * *

><p>When she entered Wainwright's office, she saw assistant district attorney Oscar Ardiles standing in front of Wainwright's desk with his hands in his pant pockets, looking annoyed as ever. Lisbon wondered what was going on. She looked at Wainwright expectantly.<p>

"Lisbon, good-morning," he started kindly. "How are you and the team? Not too busy, I hope?"

Lisbon gave him a friendly smile. "No, sir, we're managing just fine. No case at the moment, just paperwork." She heard Ardiles huff and cast him a glance.

Wainwright saw the exchange and decided to jump in.

"Lisbon, assistant D.A. Ardiles here has complained to me about your managing style and professional skills. He feels that you are either too incompetent or too indifferent to handle Jane's antics. I assume you know that Jane's unorthodox ways of solving cases provides the D.A.'s office with a whole lot of extra work to make the cases stick."

Lisbon's smile had faltered. "Yes, sir, and I'm sorry about that, but I'm neither incompetent nor indifferent, I can assure you. I think Mr. Ardiles and I just have different opinions on managing styles."

"Yes, that's exactly what I thought, too. And that's completely normal, considering that you both have very different job requirements. But I can't help but notice that Mr. Ardiles has had more problems with you and your team over the last few years. Therefore, I figured it would be a wise investment to have you form a better idea of what you're both doing on a daily basis. To be able to do that, I think work shadowing is the perfect solution. That way you can achieve a better understanding of each other's point of view when it comes to decision-making. You might even be able to learn things from each other!", Wainwright ended cheerfully.

Lisbon and Ardiles both looked something between shocked and extremely dismayed. Ardiles was about to use his lawyer skills to talk himself out of it, but Wainwright knew better than to let him start.

"Mr. Ardiles, I think this is the best solution to the complaint you filed. You either learn to get a better understanding of each other's positions and might even get along, or you can make Lisbon's upcoming weeks a misery, if you think that seems fit."

"Boss..!", Lisbon said offended.

Wainwright focused his attention on her. "Of course, agent Lisbon, the same goes for you. Because for the next two weeks or so, Mr. Ardiles will tag along with your cases, and you will work with him on his work too. Try to intertwine both your jobs, otherwise you will have a very busy two weeks. Granted, your jobs should not be badly affected by this, but try to help each other as much as possible for the optimal results."

Ardiles had taken his hands out of his pockets during Wainwright's speech and had given away a whole show with his gestures and body language. It had been hard to miss that he wasn't very happy with the way his complaint had been handled. Lisbon had remained rather still during all this, glancing sideways to take a little joy in the expressions on Ardiles face. But the fact that she would have to work two jobs at once with him over the next two weeks didn't appeal to her as well.

After the news had settled with the two people in front of his desk, Wainwright sent them on their way with a simple "that'll be all, thank you."

* * *

><p>Lisbon and Ardiles walked out of the office still quite shocked. They waited by the elevator for the doors to open. Ardiles was having that lawyer "wait-till-I-got-to-the-bottom-of-this"-expression on his face while muttering under his breath. Lisbon got increasingly annoyed by this, but decided to wait with arguing until they were out of Wainwright's sight. Once they had gotten in the elevator, she tried to do the smart thing and stay friendly.<p>

"I know it's not what you – what _we_ need right now, but I just want you to know my team and I will do everything we can to make this cooperation go smoothly."

Ardiles turned to her. "Lisbon," he said, "the times that I've had to have to do with you and your team, things went anything but smoothly. When it comes to you people, smoothly is the last word to describe you." With that he turned back to face the elevator doors.

Lisbon looked down to hide her anger and embarrassment, because there were other people in the elevator. "Let's discuss this further in my office", she said, ending the discussion.

When they entered her office, Jane was still laying down on the couch. He got up as soon as he saw Ardiles coming in after Lisbon. "Ardiles!", Jane said looking as if he'd been genuinely happy to see him. "I can't believe you've found the time to pay us a visit, seen as there are still so much more innocent people you have to put in prison!" Jane's smile broadened when he noticed Lisbon was struggling to keep a straight face and failed. Ardiles sighed. Lisbon decided now was not the right moment to make fun of Ardiles considering the fact that she had to spend two weeks with him. She put on a stern look. "Jane!", she scolded. "Mr. Ardiles and I have some business to discuss, would you mind?" Jane looked at both their faces to see if he could find out what was going on. "Not at all.", he said and left Lisbon's office.

Lisbon went to sit behind her desk. Ardiles remained standing, rubbing his face.

"So, what now?", Lisbon asks hesitantly. Ardiles looks at her with sheer frustration. "You figure it out! You got us into this in the first place, you solve it." Now it was Lisbon's turn to be frustrated and angry. "What do you mean "_I _got us into this? _You_ were the one who went complaining to Wainwright! What is your problem with me anyway?"

Ardiles suddenly put his hands on her desk and leaned in, his eyes dark with anger.

"My problem with you, Lisbon, is your entire attitude. You say things like 'we're just doing paperwork'. '_Just_ paperwork!'With Jane, it cannot be '_just_ paperwork'. With that guy involved, you should be home with a burn-out from all the paperwork! You should have gotten a burn-out from having to deal with his stunts every day. But the fact that he has been working with you for over eight years shows that you aren't dealing with his stunts. You're letting him do whatever he wants because either you don't care about the problems he causes or you're just incapable of keeping him under control and resisting his mind games. Which leads me to the complaint I filed. If you think that I'm even considering to withdraw it to get you off the hook easily: you're wrong. I have every intent of showing you just what your and Jane's screwing up means for my work. And don't think that I'll go easy on you after a while because you're a girl or because you have a tough look or a cute pout. This won't be the type of cooperation where we end up being best friends, I don't care about your personal live or feelings, I just want you to do your job!"

Lisbon had been looking straight at him for the entire speech with an unimpressed look. That look didn't have anything to do with his use of body language. He did that well, Lisbon had thought to herself, those lawyer skills did come in handy when delivering a speech. But the speech itself hadn't impressed Lisbon at all, it just made her very annoyed.

"First of all, Ardiles, I'm not a girl. I'm a woman. And an agent. Think about that. Second of all, I do have a tough look, but with that comes a tough personality. That's about as much as I'm willing to share with you about my personal live and my feelings, so don't worry about us becoming friends. Now, I would appreciate it if you would stop whining and sit down so we can discuss our business like adults.

Ardiles had kept quiet and for once hadn't bothered to do his frustration dance of huffing and head-shaking. He sat down at the opposite side of Lisbon's desk. Lisbon continued.

"Now, I don't expect you to withdraw your complaint if you don't want to, but you may want to think about the extra work you're getting yourself from that decision", Lisbon said calmly.

"I'm not withdrawing my complaint", Ardiles stated.

"Okay, well then, let me just say, I don't expect you to go easy on me, but I won't go easy on you as well, just so you know… With that said, welcome to the team."

Ardiles snorted but when he saw Lisbon's stern look he refrained from further comment on the matter.

"I need you and your team to fully cooperate with me. Do not hide anything from me, just because it's easier. I don't want to be put in harm's way unprepared", Ardiles said.

Lisbon nodded. "Absolutely, I'll brief the team as soon as possible. Also, feel free to comment if you think any of us is doing something wrong. Just make sure you don't put anyone in danger." Ardiles just looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

They planned when they would spend time on Lisbon's work and when on Ardiles'. Since Lisbon didn't have a case as of yet, they agreed on going over Ardiles work first, as soon as Lisbon had finished the report she had been working on this morning before Jane had barged into her office and started asking her inappropriate questions.

* * *

><p>Lisbon had gathered the team to tell them the news, but with Ardiles still standing behind her, she started to get anxious about their responses. Jane's response, actually. The others would be decent enough to hide any dissatisfaction, but Jane would take great pleasure out of showing just how much he disliked Ardiles. And that would be a bad start of two weeks proving Ardiles she did her job well.<p>

"Guys, I have an announcement. You all know Mr. Ardiles here. He's going to join us for the next two weeks. I want you to fully cooperate with him and keep him in the loop. He's here to give us some tips on how we can do our jobs better so we can be sure the bad guys will get convicted. I expect you to be professional and helpful to Mr. Ardiles. Also, I will assist Mr. Ardiles with his work over the next two weeks, so I won't be in my office much. You can always reach me on my cell phone though. Any questions?"

Lisbon hadn't paused during her announcement to avoid comments and had kept looking pleadingly at Jane, as if to ask him to please don't make this harder on her than it already was. But Jane of course had already formed a suiting reply.

"Really? Ardiles, you're joining us? Wow, that should be fun...!", Jane smiled.

"Jane…", Lisbon looked at him warningly. She had expected him to say something much worse than this, so she waited for him to go on. But he didn't. He looked at her as if nothing was wrong.

"What, Lisbon? I'm just giving the man a friendly welcome."

Lisbon of course knew better than that, but decided to let it slide. Ardiles left soon after that, so Lisbon could safely retreat to her office.

* * *

><p>Jane followed her and immediately laid down on her couch. "So, Ardiles…", Jane started.<p>

"Don't want to talk about it", Lisbon responded.

Jane looked at her and was quiet for a moment. Then he started again. "So, promiscuous girl, agent Wilson..?"

Lisbon sighed. "It was an order from Wainwright…"

Jane looked amused. "Wainwright _ordered_ you to sleep with agent Wilson?", he asked, feigning surprise.

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Ardiles. Working with me, Wainwright ordered it after Ardiles complained about me."

Jane stared at the ceiling. "Ardiles…", he huffed, "Can you believe that guy..!"

Lisbon sighed again. "Can you imagine having to spend the entire day with him, the guy is more annoying than the sound of a drill at midnight!"

Jane smiled. "Makes you wonder why _he_'s the one being annoyed all day."

Lisbon smiled too. "Probably annoys himself as well…", she mumbled, but Jane heard it and smiled broadly. Lisbon didn't though, because she knew she would be stuck with Ardiles for two whole weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

Distracted Chapter Two:

As soon as Lisbon had seated herself at the opposite side of Ardiles desk, he dropped a pile of files in front of her.

"We'll go over these today", he told her while he sat down opposite to her. "I would appreciate it if you could help me with the technical terms and descriptions", he asked while already reading a file.

Lisbon nodded and started reading herself. They started working and Lisbon soon noticed how thorough he handled every case, making notes everywhere and looking everything up. Lisbon started to understand how someone could get so annoyed, when you're working like this. She couldn't help but admire him for giving his work so much attention, so she was glad when she proved to be quite helpful.

"Ah man… another one of those…", Lisbon heard him mutter after a while.

She asked him what was going on. He sighed.

"Another of those agents that just do as they please, without considering the consequences."

Lisbon saw the frown returning to his face.

"Here," he said, starting to tell what the file said, "Two agents going into the house of the accused, without any cause or warrant. Anything they found inside may be deleted from the evidence list…"

Lisbon took the file to skim it. "It says here that this man was accused of physically abusing a child and that he has a history of violence, especially when he was drunk", Lisbon started. "The agents had checked the bar, where they told them that the accused had been there the whole afternoon, but had left. So it's safe to say the agents assumed he had been drinking", she looked at Ardiles to see if she should go on."It's only natural that the agents were worried for the child's safety. This guy getting drunk and being alone with a child, while he was just being investigated for beating a child, I think it's only natural for the agents to go in to make sure the child is safe."

Lisbon looked uncomfortable, waiting for Ardiles to start a speech on how that was the completely wrong thinking that got her into this.  
>But it never came. Instead he was deep in thought. His frown had disappeared.<p>

"That might work", he stated and they continued.

They came across a few other cases where Lisbon was able to provide Ardiles with some inside knowledge that made his case stronger and Lisbon grew more confident every time. She was glad she could show him just how competent she was.

* * *

><p>They had worked through two-thirds of the stack of files when Lisbon had proposed another solution to a problem with a case. She looked around the room while Ardiles made notes.<p>

"You're on a roll here, Lisbon. You would make a decent lawyer", he said while scribbling down words on his note block.

Lisbon looked surprised. "What, Ardiles, was that something nice you just said?", Lisbon joked.

He smiled at her. "Well, you would be if you weren't such a terrible speaker and if you would try just a little harder to be charming."

Lisbon smiled internally. She thought about the guys Jane mentioned this morning that had shown an interest in her. She definitely knew how to be charming, but she wasn't going to let Ardiles in on the secret.

"Pff", she snorted. "You make it sound as if it's just a matter of charming the judge and jury for you guys, after all the hard work _we _do!"

Ardiles smiled but then looked deadly serious. "Yes, that's right, that _is _how we do it. We dress up in fancy costumes, dance around in the courtroom, wink at the judge, perform some magic tricks,_ et voila_, a job well done!"

Lisbon laughed. But after she could fully apprehend the fact that Ardiles of all people had made her laugh, he had gotten back to business.

"Do you think there's any way I could make battery out of that assault charge?", he asked, so Lisbon decided there was no need to think about how he got so normal all the sudden.

* * *

><p>The sun had started to set when they were finally done for the day. Lisbon had managed to keep from commenting on how boring and inconvenient all this extra work had been, because Ardiles had tried to hide his dismay as well. When he closed the last case file, he looked up at her, his eyes weary from all the work.<p>

"Well, that's that. I don't know about you, but I'm going home," he said.

Lisbon started collect her stuff when she heard him mutter to himself. "Ridiculous… work so hard… get home, go straight to bed… And Monday? More of this fun. A trial and a day filled with Jane&co…".

Lisbon started to get really fed up with his whining.

"Oh cut it out, already. You think _you_ have it tough, well I have to spend all day with you! Which, I can tell you, isn't exactly a trip to Disneyland as well."

Ardiles just looked very annoyed. "Look, I just want to go home, so if you really need to yell at me some more, can you do it while we're walking?"

Lisbon got really pissed, she grabbed her jacket from the chair and stormed out the door Ardiles held open for her.

"Yes! I do need to yell at you! I've had it with your endless complaining. Is it really too much to ask for you to do your job _without_ nagging about it all day? Because if it is, we're going to have a major problem once we get a case", Lisbon said.

Ardiles didn't look at her, but only picked up his pace, determined to outrun her. Once their ways parted and he went out the door, Lisbon had one more thing to add.

"You should really ask yourself if you're tough enough to handle that..!" As she watched him walk away, he threw a uninterested hand in the air, which caused Lisbon to retrieve to her office frustrated as hell.

* * *

><p>After the weekend, they didn't meet until right before the trial started. Ardiles looked completely ready and fully prepared. He seemed surprised she had shown up.<p>

"Lisbon, good morning, I didn't think you would actually come, since I'm such a disaster to be around." He smiled a little and Lisbon decided to stop being mad.

"I thought I'd give you one more chance, see if you're any good in court today", she said.

Ardiles smile got broader. "You'll be amazed at how good I am", he said extremely confident.

Lisbon shrugged. "We'll see", she answered teasingly and walked to the audience tribune. Ardiles grinned as he watched her walk away before entering the courtroom himself.

The trial had just started and Lisbon wondered what Ardiles would be like in court today. She couldn't picture any judge or jury that would find him charming or appealing if he would act the same annoying way with them as he did around her. Once he got up to give his opening statement, Lisbon couldn't help but notice how sharp he looked in his black suit. He started talking and Lisbon saw he was completely in his element. He stood confident in front of the jury and gave his speech, all the while gesturing at his heart's content. During the rest of the trial, Lisbon got all the more impressed with the comfort and style he handled it. Once he got on a roll, there was no stopping him, much to the dismay of the defendant and his lawyer. To a vulnerable witness he was a proper gentleman, a dishonest one he tricked into telling the truth. He charmed the judge with his good manners and his outstanding preparation, he charmed the jury with his broad smile and frisky style. When he went back to his seat, he almost bounced with excitement and once he spotted Lisbon he gave her a playful wink. Lisbon nearly chuckled when he made an unnecessary turn before sitting down to give his opponent a meaningful look.

When Lisbon left the court during recess, Ardiles came walking toward her, with a smug grin on his lips. "Told you I'd rock your world", he said.

Lisbon smiled. "You were pretty good out there, very to the point."

Ardiles grinned, and Lisbon noticed that he seemed so much more relaxed and happy than she'd seen him so far. "Yes, judges and juries like that, I've done most of the work for them. They just have to listen to me telling what happened. No razzle dazzle to work through."

"Well, a bit of razzle dazzle", Lisbon said. "A little bit of razzle dazzle, yes", Ardiles agreed.

When her phone suddenly rang, Lisbon answered with a smile still on her lips. It soon got replaced by a serious look though. After hanging up, she told Ardiles what was going on. "That was Cho, there's been a murder in Fresno. I have to go…".

Ardiles nodded. "Off course. I'll be in court all day, so I won't be able to come along".

"Sure, no problem. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then", Lisbon said.

"Yes, tomorrow. Good luck!", Ardiles said sincerely. Lisbon gave him a friendly smile while she walked away. "You too."

* * *

><p>Lisbon and Jane drove to Fresno. It was quiet in the car. Jane seemed lost in thoughts, staring out the window. Suddenly, he turned to look at her. Lisbon noticed it immediately, but didn't want to give him the pleasure of letting him know that it made her feel a little nervous. When he kept looking at her with that little smile of his, she eventually spoke.<p>

"What, Jane?"

"Nothing", he replied, "just… Did you know, the last time you scolded me for something was _two days ago_..!"

Lisbon briefly looked at him and shrugged. "So?"

"So, that either means that you're starting to care less about the rules, which I highly doubt, or…", he said while trying to read her body language, "Or you're starting to care less about me."

Lisbon looked at him. "Off course not, what makes you even think that?"

"Well, normally, you watch my every move, 24/7. You always know what I'm doing. This morning, there was a little post-it at your office door saying 'Thank you, Teresa – Wilson'. You didn't even consider that I may have interfered with your love – no – _sex_ life, by, let's say, sending him a letter that expresses your gratefulness for the amazing skills he's shown you as a lover", Jane told her, without even smiling about his own stunt.

Lisbon just looked very dismayed, but refrained from commenting.

Jane continued. "You see, nothing. I've barely spoken to you in the past days. We haven't even discussed how working with our weird little friend Ardiles is!"

Lisbon looked at him.

"Jane, I swear, you're going to clear up the mess you made with Wilson, or I will make sure _you _will be working with Ardiles."

Jane smiled broadly. "Thank you Lisbon, that was perfect! Just what I needed to hear."

Lisbon snorted.

Jane, being completely in his element again, started to chat. "So, I take it Ardiles didn't turn out to be the ray of sunshine he seemed? I can't believe you spent an entire afternoon with him! Did he actually get some work done, or did he just kept nagging? Unbelievable someone still employs a guy like that…"

Lisbon had smiled, but started to feel the need to defend Ardiles a little. "Jane, cut the guy some slack…"

Jane looked at her in disbelief. "Lisbon, the man tried to put me in prison for the rest of my life..!"

Lisbon smiled. "He probably knew you would get away with it. And, since it makes you so happy when I keep you on a tight leash, I'm warning you. Behave these two weeks, because I can't have any more problems with Ardiles."

Jane huffed. "Why do you care so much about what that guy thinks about you?"

"I don't", Lisbon said annoyed, ending the discussion.

* * *

><p>By the time they got back, everyone had already left the building. Wondering how Ardiles' case had ended, Lisbon decided to check if there was still someone at the legal department. When she approached the bullpen she heard laughter and dance music. She knocked on the door, but off course no-one heard, so she walked in soon after.<p>

As she took in the scene in front of her, a smile started to slowly form on her lips. Ardiles and some of his lawyer buddies were drinking shots of vodka and loudly telling stories, laughing about them and speaking all at the same time. They had lost their ties and unbuttoned the top two or three buttons of their shirts. It didn't take long for Lisbon to figure out Ardiles had won the case, since he was clearly the center of the attention.

Since no-one had noticed her yet, she decided she'd enjoy this little scene for a little while longer. Soon she was able to make out what they were saying. One guy joked about the swagger Ardiles used in court. Another guy picked up the joke.

"Who am I imitating? Who am I imitating?", he asked, laughing loudly, while he tried to sway his hips and show some other dance moves.

Ardiles laughed along, leaning back a little to watch his friend make a fool of himself. He shook his head mockingly at the bad dance moves the guy showed.

After he put his empty glass on the table behind them, he pushed the guy aside and demonstrably loosened his neck and shoulder muscles. He waited for the right moment in the track and when that came he started to dance, showing his buddies how it's done.

What impressed Lisbon even more than his dance moves, was how at ease and cheerful he was. He stopped after a few seconds and went to lean back against the table again.

Lisbon couldn't help but laugh out loud after what she just witnessed. Ardiles' head immediately snapped in her direction, a shocked look in his eyes as if he'd been caught outside by his mother after bedtime.

Lisbon smiled broadly. The other guys looked at her as well.

"Agent Teresa Lisbon!", one of them said loudly. "Sexy as always…", he added.

Ardiles turned to give him a disapproving look.

The guy smiled at him. "What, Ardiles? You get to play with her during the day, can't she play with us at night?"

Lisbon sighed. Ardiles got so embarrassed that he didn't dare to look her in the eye, but instead stared at the ground.

"So I guess you've won the case?", she asked, smiling.

"Yeah…" He looked at her. "This…", he motioned across the room, "is just something we… do", he said, not sure how to behave.

Lisbon smiled. "Congratulations. You guys have fun, I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

Ardiles nodded. "Yes, tomorrow. See you then."

As Lisbon walked away, she heard some of the other guys yelling after her to stay and scolding Ardiles for letting her leave.


	3. Chapter 3

Distracted Chapter Three:

When Lisbon walked towards Ardiles' office the next morning, she half expected he wouldn't be there yet, or at least hung-over. Instead she found him sitting behind his desk, already flipping through a case file. He greeted her briefly when she entered. Lisbon sat down and waited for him to finish reading. When he kept quiet, Lisbon started to talk.

"I didn't think you would manage to get to work so early", she said while giving him a friendly smile.

Ardiles looked up at her. "Off course. I have a responsibility, I can't just not show up to work."

"That's very… righteous of you," Lisbon said, a little taken aback by his attitude. "So, did you have a nice time yesterday?", she asked casually.

Ardiles started to look a bit frustrated. "Yes, it was lovely. Now, shall we get to work?"

Lisbon raised her eyebrows. So much for thinking Ardiles could be fun… "Sure. How can I help?"

Ardiles' look softened a bit. "How's your case going?", he asked.

"It's okay. We found some interesting leads yesterday. A very close community, the victim's neighborhood. We had just started checking out her apartment when the neighbors started swarming around us, it was really weird. Jane thinks one of the men had an affair with the victim. Van Pelt is checking that out right now and Cho and Rigsby went back to interview the neighbors and friends. They'd call if they need me there." Lisbon told him.

Ardiles nodded. "Tomorrow I have to argue a case – one of your cases, actually – in court. Now, I've _tried _to fully prepare myself, but still, with Jane involved… I just don't want any surprises tomorrow. Could you please tell me everything that happened during that case?", he said, sounding very unpleased with the case he had to present tomorrow.

Lisbon couldn't help but sense a little aversion towards her again. But, since the whole point of this cooperation was to improve their working relationship, she decided to stay friendly.

"Sure. Well, let's see. It started with the LAPD calling us, because they found a body on the roof of the Hotel Café..."

Ardiles wrote everything down Lisbon told him. He didn't interrupt her, but as soon as Jane came into the picture, he started to put exclamation marks everywhere and underline words excessively. While relating the events during the case, Lisbon thought they handled everything fairly well. Jane off course did have an unorthodox way of dealing with certain aspects of law enforcement, but from her point of view, in the end they delivered good work.

When she came to the part where they had put the plan to catch the murderer into motion, Ardiles couldn't keep quiet any longer and started asking questions.

"So, he went to talk to them without backup?"

Lisbon nodded and tried to explain the rest of the situation, but before she could start, Ardiles had more questions.

"He pretended you two were lovers?"

Lisbon nodded again and started to look increasingly uncomfortable.

"And he had no hard evidence to suspect the desk clerk?"

Lisbon kept silent from this point, because she felt Ardiles didn't even care if she agreed with his point of view.

"Lisbon, was there _any _moment during all this were you stopped to think about rules and regulations? Think about all those people you brought into danger! And yourself! Also, Jane persuaded the clerk to come to the roof with him… Whatever the guy said or did there can be overruled by the argument that Jane messed with the guy's head and forced him to go to the roof, where the body was found, while the guy suffered from acrophobia!", Ardiles nearly shouted at her, frowning from frustration. Lisbon looked very unpleased. She couldn't believe they were back to this again.

"Ardiles," she said with emphasis, "My team did well with this case. I did well. I _so_ have had it with your pedantic, arrogant style, always telling me how I should have handled things! You've never even been to a crime scene for God's sake! How can you honestly tell me how I should do my job, when you haven't even got a clue what it's like to work a case?"

Ardiles, in the mean time, kept on reading the case file. As if he hadn't even listened to her outburst, he interrupted her to complain some more.

"And come on! You pretended to be lovers, renting a room at the hotel! You two were in there, alone, for most of the night. Now tell me, how can I convince a jury that you actually were working instead of having a little fun yourselves? I can't believe it. Every single time I have to present one of your cases, I always find myself unable to do my job right. There's just nothing to go on. No case, nothing to build it on."

He threw the file down on his desk. Lisbon frowned at this melodramatic gesture.

"Come on, Ardiles, you're just full of crap now and you know it! This guy is guilty, everyone knows that! Is it really too much for you to do your part in this matter? Also, did you really just imply that I was having _sex,_ with Jane, on a case? Are you out of your mind? Just… do your job!"

Lisbon had pushed back her chair and stood up furiously. Ardiles jumped up from his chair as well.

"Like I said, I can't do my job, when you're not doing yours! Do not blame me for this, Lisbon!"

Lisbon felt the anger pulsing through her veins. "I did my job, and if you're unable to prosecute this guy properly, maybe you just aren't the amazingly good attorney you think you are!", she said while turning to the door.

"Really? You're saying I'm _no_ good attorney? Explain to me then how it's possible that I win so many cases?", he practically shouted after her.

Lisbon shrugged, already half out the door. "It's probably just your looks that do the trick for those desperate housewives and cougars in the jury."  
>She shut the door behind her and walked frustrated to the bullpen, dialing Van Pelts number.<p>

* * *

><p>While she waited for her to pick up the phone, Ardiles watched her from his office. She ran her fingers through her hair, probably from the frustration and adrenaline resulting from their fight. When Van Pelt answered, Lisbon immediately asked for an update. Van Pelt complied. She told her that she had asked Cho and Rigsby to ask around about the three men Jane thought could be having an affair with the victim. Lisbon sighed. Van Pelt sensed something was up.<p>

"Is everything okay boss? You sound… frustrated.", she asked cautiously.

Lisbon felt like she should give her an explanation, letting her know it had nothing to do with her or the rest of the team.

"Yeah, no, I'm okay, it's just… Ardiles… he's just… unbelievable!"

When she spoke, she heard Jane yell something in the background. "What did Jane want?", Lisbon asked.

"He says you have to come back, that we have to go to Fresno again, because he thinks something is going to happen soon. And he's smiling", Van Pelt added.

Lisbon rolled her eyes, because she knew it meant trouble when Jane smiled – which he did all the time, off course. But right now it sounded a lot better than having to spend the rest of the day with Ardiles arguing over case files, trapped in his office.

"Fine, I'll meet you in ten minutes", she said and hung up. She took one more breath to calm herself before walking towards Ardiles office again. When she got there, she didn't bother to come in, but instead kept standing in the doorway.

"We've got a lead in the case, we need to go to Fresno. Come on, you're coming with", she said while getting ready to leave. Surprisingly, Ardiles complied without making a sound.

* * *

><p>Getting to Fresno was a whole different thing though. From the moment they spotted each other, Jane and Ardiles started bickering.<p>

"Ardiles!", Jane said. "I hope you brought along some candy, because this must be like a school trip for you."

Ardiles smiled insincerely. "Nah, Jane, consider me more the head principal that has to come along on the school trip to supervise the most problematic child in school."

Jane smiled his broad smile. "You sure about that? 'Cause I believe the real reason you're coming along is because Lisbon needs to babysit_ you,_ and you have to do everything she says."

"Well, so do you", Ardiles replied. Jane grinned as he walked towards the passenger seat in the front.

"No, sir, not me!" Ardiles' smile had disappeared. He walked over to the front door as well. The two men gave each other their most dominant looks and grasped for the door handle at the same time.

"Come on, Ardiles, get in the back, don't interfere with serious stuff", Jane tried to say as important as he could.

Ardiles didn't looked too impressed. "Really, Jane, '_serious stuff_'? Listen, Lisbon and I need to discuss what'll happen when we get to Fresno, so could you please go sit in the back?"

Lisbon and Van Pelt had been getting annoyed by them from the moment Jane and Ardiles saw each other, but had kept quiet, each looking pleadingly at the other as if to ask to please make an end to this. Lisbon knew it was her responsibility, but really wasn't looking forward to being the target of their discontent. When she got behind the wheel and noticed the struggle the two men had for the front seat, she had enough.

"Jane, Ardiles, both go sit in the back. Van Pelt, you go sit between them and keep them from attacking each other.", she said firmly through the open window. All three looked displeasured, but Van Pelt was the only one to keep quiet and do as she was told. Ardiles started to complain first.

"What? Ah come on, Lisbon, you can't be serious? You're really going to treat us like babies? I don't think so", he said, while trying opening the passenger door.

"Ardiles, get in the back, I mean it. And, yes, I will treat you like a baby if you don't stop acting like one. Now do as I say and be quiet." Ardiles huffed and puffed some, but went to sit in the back. Jane saw this as his victory and went to sit in the front seat.

"Yeah, Ardiles, be quiet!", he said, trying to make himself comfortable, but Lisbon shoved him out.

"You too, Jane!", she said.

When they were all seated, Van Pelt looked the most unhappy of all.

* * *

><p>It stayed very silent in the car and after what seemed like an age to him, Jane decided to speak up.<p>

"Lisbon, did I mention to you that I spoke to some of the husbands yesterday?", he asked casually.

Lisbon immediately went into a guarded state, expecting the worst every time Jane said something _casually_.

"No…", she said, slightly annoyed, dreading what was to come.

Jane feigned surprise. "Really? Oh, must have slipped my mind. It's not a big deal though. I did mention the three guys I suspected were having an affair with Emily?", he asked.

Lisbon hated it when he was about to drop something important on her, but kept on postponing it. "Yes!", she said, urging him to go on.

Jane smiled a little because of the thing he was about to tell Lisbon. "Well, I told them that we found the guy that was having an affair with her and that we had very strong evidence and that it was Jack Perry, the next-door neighbor…!"His smile was full-blown now.

Lisbon looked annoyed and troubled. "But that guy is happily married, wouldn't risk his marriage for anything. You said so yourself!"

Jane's smile turned into a look of disappointment. "Lisbon..! Come on, don't tell me you don't know what my game is here…"

Lisbon tried to hide her amusement when she looked at Jane in her rear mirror. "Off course I know what you're game is, Jane. You're trying to get the real lover to come forward when he hears about another guy having an affair with Emily."

Jane smiled proudly. "Yes, very good Lisbon! You see? Nothing to be worried or angry about!"

Lisbon smiled at his cheerfulness. She liked it when she knew what Jane was up to, as far as that was possible. Ardiles though had started squirming in his seat ever since Lisbon said Jane's plan out loud. He tried to get past Van Pelt to face Jane when he started grumbling, but she pushed him back in his seat.

"People, you cannot be serious! Do you have _any_ idea what a mess you've made, Jane? And for what? Are you all really too unqualified to find out who the secret lover is, without putting an innocent man's life in danger?", Ardiles complained.

Lisbon knew this was material for another complaint about her, so she quickly put on a stern face. "Jane, I agree with Ardiles. You can't do things like this!"

"Boss, I'll call Rigsby and Cho and tell them to go over to Mr. Perry's house to make sure he's safe", Van Pelt said, relieved she could finally be of any help.

This seemed to satisfy both Ardiles and Jane so it was quiet in the car. Van Pelt dialed Rigsby's number and explained the situation to him. When she decided to add a 'it's probably nothing', for Jane's sake, she got interrupted by Rigsby and listened to what he told her.

"Really? Gosh, that's not good… Let's hope it's not him then. I'll tell Lisbon. Call us when you know something. Bye", she said and hung up.

She felt bad for Jane and Lisbon, because the news she had to tell everyone made Jane's actions seem more irresponsible than she thought they had been. Ardiles wouldn't stop complaining for the rest of the ride…

"Boss, Cho and Rigsby just found out that Martin Philips, one of the husbands Jane suspected for having an affair with the victim, was secretly running a little fighting club or gang or something, outside of the neighborhood. Some of the other husbands were part of it too..." Van Pelt said.

Lisbon looked puzzled. "Really? Martin Philips? The guy with the grey pull-over and corduroys? Him?"

"Well, it's not that much of a surprise when you think about it, Lisbon", Jane said. "He was clearly a leader of some sorts in their community, the way he directed the neighbors to us yesterday when we were investigating the crime scene. And I did notice his temperament when I spoke to him yesterday. That's why I figured he may have been the secret lover. Everyone else in their neighborhood had this dull, docile air about them. No passion of sorts… If Emily was the kind to be having an affair, she would be looking for someone exciting, someone different from the rest of the neighbors. Martin Philips is certainly that, try as he might to blend in with the rest."

Lisbon looked frustrated. "Jane, do you understand the situation here? You've told a frustrated, aggressive man with an entire fight club behind him that the woman he was secretly dating, was also having an affair with another guy! For all we know, Philips is beating up Jack Perry as we speak!"

Jane didn't seem too impressed by her worst-case scenario. "Meh", he shrugged. '

When he spotted Lisbon's look of desperation, he smiled. "God, woman, stop panicking! Did you really think I _just _figured out Martin Philips is a violent freak?", he said smugly.

Lisbon's look changed into confusion and soon after that into annoyance.

Jane enjoyed it. "Off course not, Lisbon!", he continued. "That's why yesterday, I also told them that we would bring Perry in for questioning, but that we would probably bring him back today, because we didn't think he had anything to do with the murder. So when they'll see Cho and Rigsby's car, they'll think he's back. Philips won't attack until they leave.", Jane smiled.

In the rearview mirror, he saw Lisbon smile a little as well, relieved that the situation wasn't as bad as it looked like. But off course it disappeared when she heard Ardiles mumble something about sharing information.

"Jane, for the umpteenth time, next time discuss your plans with us first!", she scolded him.

Jane didn't respond, but instead stared out of the window, musing about how much more fun it was when Ardiles didn't come along. He hated that he saw Lisbon so much less now she had to work with Ardiles so often. Whenever he did see her, Ardiles was almost always there as well. He had tried to get her attention with several tricks, like he had today. But instead of her relaxing and secretly enjoying his plan when she was completely informed, she remained nervous and annoyed by him. He had noticed she did smile sometimes when he told her about his plans, but mostly she reprimanded him because he shouldn't make her look bad to Ardiles. She told him that it was bad for work and stuff, but he couldn't help but think about what Van Pelt had said after her phone call with Lisbon this morning...

_After Lisbon had briefed the team and finished up some paperwork in her office, she had went over to Ardiles' office to work through some case files with him.  
>Cho and Risgby were headed back to Fresno and Van Pelt was working on her computer.<br>He had been laying on his couch, bored as hell, wishing Lisbon would return soon. At the same time he checked out the time, to make sure his plan was carried out well. Cho and Risgby would arrive in Fresno in an hour and twenty minutes. That meant that Lisbon and he should leave in twenty minutes.  
>He was still debating whether he should call her or go over to Ardiles' office to get her, when Van Pelt's phone rang. It was Lisbon. Van Pelt told her about her request to Cho and Rigsby to check out the three husbands first before talking to the victim's friends. She started to look nervous, as if she feared she had done something wrong.<em>

_"Is everything okay boss? You sound… frustrated.", she asked cautiously._

_He figured her frustration could only be caused by Ardiles this time and was happy Lisbon had enough of Ardiles already and looked forward to a day of fun with her. He jumped up from his couch._

_"Lisbon, get back here! We need to get to Fresno again, I feel like something is going to happen soon..!", he said loudly, a broad smile on his lips._

_After Van Pelt had hung up, she went back to her work, but the knowing smile on her lips hadn't gone unnoticed by Jane._

_"What are you smiling about", he asked, hoping to get in on the secret. Van Pelt looked cheerful at him._

_"You should have heard Lisbon, she said Ardiles was just unbelievable, like he drove her completely mad…", she had trailed of, assuming Jane would understand what she meant._

_He didn't though, which had clearly amused Van Pelt some more._

_"I just wonder in what way he drives her mad...", she had said innocently, while she had turned back to her computer screen._

_He had looked confused. _

_"You think she likes him?", he had asked a little too loud, trying to sound ridiculing. Van Pelt hadn't looked at him but just shrugged._

_"I bet that, even though apparently she can't stand him any longer, she'll bring him along to Fresno today…", she had told him._

And here they were, all four on the road, with still more than half an hour to go. Cho had called to tell them they were at Perry's house, Van Pelt had said they shouldn't go up to it, but should just wait until they got there as well, because that was all part of Jane's plan. Ardiles had started to discuss some legal stuff with Lisbon, like how they should proceed when they got there. Jane desperately wanted to join in the conversation, especially when they started to get more informal.

"So, Lisbon, soon I'll lose my crime-scene virginity. I fully expect that from that moment on I can tell you how to do your job and be as pedantic and arrogant as I please. Surely you'll understand", Ardiles joked, referring to what Lisbon said during her outburst that morning.

Lisbon laughed, which was the last straw for Jane.

"I'm sorry Ardiles, but were not going to visit the crime scene, we're going to the neighbors' house. I thought you understood that", he said as if talking to a child. The silence that ensued felt awkward for everyone in the car, except Jane, who felt it was much better than the lousy jokes Ardiles made.


	4. Chapter 4

Distracted Chapter Four:

When Lisbon turned right to pull up to the Perry Residence, she felt relieved the ride was over. Her relieve was short-lived though, because soon she noticed the black SUV Cho and Rigsby had taken that morning was no-where to be found. She parked the car in front of Perry's house and immediately dialed Cho's number. He picked up after the first ring.

"Where the hell are you?", Lisbon asked, the frustration and stress that had built up during the ride all coming out at once.

Cho, off course, stayed calm. "We're at a diner a few blocks away."

"Why?", Lisbon asked.

"Rigsby wanted something to eat", Cho replied.

Lisbon sighed. "Get over here, now", she ordered him.

Cho ended with a 'yes boss' and they hung up.

Lisbon turned in her seat to explain the situation. "There's been a misunderstanding. Cho and Rigsby left the street, so if Jane's plan worked out, the guy that was having an affair with the victim should be inside Mr. Perry's house. Consider him hostile and dangerous, we don't know if he's armed or if he has brought along others from the gang. Van Pelt, we'll wait until Cho and Rigsby get here, that shouldn't take long. Guys, you two stay in the car!", she said firmly.

Jane was off course fine with that, since he really wasn't planning on bringing himself in danger's way. But no-one in the car had missed Ardiles excitement. He even forgot to mutter and complain.

"I really think I should come with. I can assist you with the legal part, like how to proceed when the situation is stabilized", he said, trying hard to sound serious and important. "Also, I'm a pretty good fighter", he added, only half joking.

Jane rolled his eyes at Ardiles' lame attempt at trying to be impressive.

"Okay", Lisbon said, which surprised everyone in the car. "But you have to wear a bulletproof vest and you stay behind us", she told him sternly.

Ardiles nodded solemnly, looking at her as if they had been crime fighting partners forever. Jane really didn't look forward to having to wait in the car alone, while Ardiles was off with Lisbon, acting as if he was Action Man.

"I'll come with, too", he stated. Lisbon looked very uncertain at him. He looked as innocent as he could. "Come on, Lisbon, if you're going to bring him, you definitely should bring me. I'm the one who set all this up, I'll be able to bring this all to a happy end", he said.

"Fine", Lisbon answered before she got out of the car.

Cho and Rigsby had arrived and Lisbon briefed them about the situation. Cho started to prepare himself while his hand automatically went to his back, but Lisbon interfered.

"Cho, if there's going to be a fight, I don't want you anywhere near it. You're back is still way too weak. I want you to wait in the car and make sure no-one escapes", Lisbon told him.

"Okay", Cho said and went back into his car.

Rigsby had grabbed the bulletproof vests from the trunk of the car and handed one to the rest. While they put them on, Lisbon went over the plan once more.

"So, Rigsby, check the back, we'll go in through the front door."

Rigsby nodded while he lost his tie.

Jane and Ardiles in the mean time watched each other's every move, not thrusting anything the other did. So when Ardiles took of his jacket, trying to show off his muscles a little too much for Jane's liking, Jane immediately followed. He took of his vest as well and Ardiles lost his tie. They started to unbutton their shirts at the same time, but Ardiles unbuttoned one more button than Jane, showing just a little bit of the top of his chest, covered with some dark chest hairs. Jane didn't know whether he imagined it or not, but he swore he saw Lisbon looking at Ardiles' chest and it was enough for him to unbutton his shirt a little further, leaving it half open. He was sure now that Lisbon looked at _his_ chest, but immediately Ardiles' fingers started to fiddle with his buttons as well again. They both nearly completely unbuttoned their shirts, when Rigsby decided to intervene by saying "Guys! Just the top two will do…"

Van Pelt and Lisbon both looked something between amused and confused. Jane guessed it had less to do with the ladies being impressed by their bare chests and more to do with him and Ardiles making a fool of themselves. He gave Ardiles a final glare before buttoning up his shirt again and putting on his bulletproof vest.

* * *

><p>When they were all ready and set, Lisbon feared the problems Jane and Ardiles would cause way more than any gangsters inside. She gestured for Rigsby to go around the back and made her way to the front door, Ardiles and Jane following close behind her. When she and Van Pelt were each positioned at a side of the door and Risgby was ready at the back, she called out "go!" and both doors were pushed open. Lisbon entered first, Van Pelt right behind her. They checked out the hall they entered and cleared it. Next, Lisbon went to check the living room while Van Pelt went for the kitchen. Ardiles and Jane followed, glad when they heard their team members call out "clear!". Rigsby had made his way to the rest, without having found anything suspicious. They gathered in the hallway, whispering while discussing their next movements.<p>

"So no-one downstairs, that's weird. And no basement where they could be hiding. Mrs. Perry is nowhere to be found either… We'll check upstairs, but it's half past one in the afternoon, surely they won't be still asleep. Jane, this was your plan, what is going on here?", Lisbon asked, slightly annoyed.

Jane hadn't really paid attention to what she was saying, but was staring at her curly brown locks and how beautiful they framed her face, loosely draped over her shoulders. She did look very pretty in the dim sunlight that managed to shine through the closed curtains…

The rest of the team just looked at him, wondering what smart plan he was thinking of now. They were glad when his look changed from lost in thoughts to understanding.

"Rigsby, were the curtains closed when you arrived this morning?", he asked.

"No, no I don't think so, no", Rigsby answered. Jane nodded.

Just as Ardiles lost his patience and started to demand that Jane told what that meant, they heard noise coming from upstairs. Lisbon, Rigsby and Van Pelt immediately grasped for their guns and gestured for Ardiles and Jane to follow them upstairs.

* * *

><p>When they got there, they couldn't see a thing. The entire floor was pitch-dark. They heard some grumbling sounds and sneaked up to the room where it was coming from. On three they opened the door and the first thing they saw was a man tackling another man, who in return started to beat the first guy everywhere he could. The two men that were standing in the room as well tried to pull the first guy of off the second, but second gestured them not to interfere.<p>

The three agents immediately pulled their guns and directed them at the fighting men.

"C.B.I., don't move, hands in the air!", Lisbon shouted.

The two standing men, who they recognized as two of the husbands he spoke with yesterday, quickly raised their hands. The two on the floor, Martin Philips and, surprisingly, Jack Perry, looked confused at first, but followed reluctantly when they saw the three guns pointed at them.

They got up and Lisbon ordered all three of them to turn around and stand against the wall with their hands on the head, after she checked that they weren't carrying any weapons besides their fists. When Jack Perry got to the wall, he found the light switch with his hipbone and all of the sudden, the small light bulb in the room went out and everything was covered in darkness.

It took the four men far less time to adjust to the darkness than the agents, because they were familiar with the house. As soon as the agents were able to see again, the saw four angry man coming towards them.

Christopher Scott, the largest of the four, flipped Lisbon over his back on the ground, twisting her wrist so she dropped her gun.  
>Kevin Moore surprised Rigsby by hitting him right in the face, just as his night-vision started to kick in.<br>Moore them kicked him in the stomach, which caused Rigsby to collapse.  
>Van Pelt pulled her gun, but with Rigsby and Lisbon trying to fight back at the guys and the complete darkness surrounding them, she didn't dare to make a shot.<br>Lisbon got up as soon as she saw that the guys were trying to get away. She threw herself in the way of one Jack Perry, who was trying to run past them. He tried to hit her but she blocked him and elbowed him in his gut.  
>Rigsby in the mean time was fighting Scott.<br>Van Pelt grabbed her handcuffs and tried to assist the others by cuffing the bad guys when they were down.  
>But getting them down was easier said than done. It was obvious that all four were members of the fight club Cho and Rigsby heard about.<br>The three agents fought as hard as they could, but were outnumbered.  
>When two of the guys tried to lift Van Pelt and slam her down to get her out of the way, Rigsby reflexively attacked them, leaving Lisbon alone to fight the other two on her own.<p>

When Ardiles saw the distress Lisbon was in, he stormed inside the room to help her fight the guys off.  
>Jane had been doubting whether he should run away and get somewhere safe, or help his team fight a bunch of boxers.<br>When he saw Ardiles running up to the guys to protect Lisbon, his doubt disappeared like snow before the sun though. There was no way he would let Ardiles play the hero, no way that Lisbon would be _Ardiles'_ damsel in distress. Before he could think about what he was doing, he stormed in as well.

Rigsby and Van Pelt had handcuffed Perry and Rigsby tried to take down Scott. Lisbon was attacking Philips and Ardiles assisted her by holding down the man's arms. Moore had previously been trying to get Rigsby off of his buddy, but decided that he had a better chance attacking saw this and tried to get mentally ready to hit the guy… and maybe even get hit himself, but thereby preventing Lisbon from getting hurt (any further…).

Just as the guy was about the grab Lisbon from behind, Ardiles let go of Philips and kicked and beat Moore, who tried to attack Lisbon. Jane in the mean time had raised his fist to hit the guy as hard as he could – but once his blow had landed and his knuckles were aching from coming into contact with bone, he noticed the guy that had started swearing after he had hit him, knew his name.

"God, Jeez, Fuck, JANE!", the guy yelled. It was only then – and honestly, _only then_ – that he realized he had punched Ardiles instead of the other guy. And from the likes of it, it had been the best smack of the fight, because Ardiles was currently the only one with a bloody nose. There wasn't much time to dwell on this situation, because now that Ardiles was so busy with his own little problem, Lisbon was fighting off two guys on her own. Jane quickly made his way to her and tried to seem dangerous without attracting too much attention from the two men. Lisbon was doing pretty fine on her own though and with one final knee to the groin she took down Moore. She kneeled beside him to handcuff him and threw over her shoulder that he should keep Philips inside. Jane feared that he had to fight for real now, when Rigsby grabbed Philips' arms and pushed him on the ground. He put his knees on Philips' back and strapped his wrists together with a tie wrap.

* * *

><p>When Ardiles flipped the light switch, Lisbon was able to check the situation.<p>

"Is everyone alright?", she asked.

Rigsby and Van Pelt said yes and even Jane mumbled an 'I'm okay', but Ardiles kept quiet.

"Ardiles, you okay?", she asked, a little bit worried.

"No! No, I'm not okay! That maniac, psychopath, lunatic boyfriend of yours punched me in the face!", Ardiles yelled eventually, and turned to look at her. He was pinching his nose, trying to stop it from bleeding. There was blood all over the sleeves of his previously crisp white shirt, and a contusion started to form around his eye.

Jane thought Lisbon's reaction to Ardiles outburst was far from professional. First, she was confused, probably because of the part where Ardiles accused her of having a maniac, psychopath, lunatic boyfriend, just a second later she understood what had happened.

"What? Jane! For God's sake! What have you done?", she shouted at him. Jane just stood there, not sure what to say.

Lisbon then turned her attention to Ardiles again. "Ardiles, I am _so_ sorry!", Lisbon apologized sincerely. "And he is _not_ my boyfriend!", she added, mostly to scold Jane some more.

"Jane, you're unbearable," she sighed frustrated. "I cannot believe you, I knew I shouldn't have let you come along!"

Lisbon grabbed her phone and called Cho.

"Cho, call the Fresno PD, we've got four men under arrest for attacking us. And call an ambulance."

Cho responded with his 'okay', without further asking what was going on, and then hung up.

* * *

><p>After the agents escorted the men out and handed them over to the local police officers, they got themselves checked out by the ambulance staff. Lisbon, Van Pelt and Rigsby got some pain killers and ice packs. Jane off course didn't have a scratch, except from his painful knuckles, but he decided not to whine about that because it would probably elicit another round of scolding from Lisbon and Ardiles. Ardiles himself was getting his nose and eye checked out when Lisbon came up to him.<p>

"Are you okay?", she asked cautiously. She was truly a bit worried about him.

He seemed to have calmed down. "Yeah…", he sighed, because he knew this wasn't Lisbon's fault so he shouldn't take his anger out on her.

"Ardiles, again, I'm so, so sorry about all this. If there's anything I can do…", she said.

He looked at her, pressing the ice pack against his swollen eye. "I probably can't have a free swing at Jane, can I?", he asked, only half joking.

Lisbon smiled, but quickly tried to change the subject because she didn't want to think about how Ardiles was really going to handle this mess with Jane.

"So, what did the doctors say?", she asked while sitting down next to him.

"That I was lucky, nothing's broken, just bruised. And that it should be over in about a week…", he told her.

"Well, that's good news, right?", Lisbon said kindly, but Ardiles didn't think so.

"Good news? _How_ is this good news? I would have been perfectly healthy right now if that deranged freak hadn't attacked me! I am going to sue that jerk every possible way I can, so that he disappears behind bars for a _long_ time!", he concluded resolutely.

Lisbon knew he meant it and also knew Jane would probably get (himself) in big trouble if this was ever going to happen, so she had to convince Ardiles to give her a break.

"I totally understand your anger with Jane, I can't stand the sight of him myself right now. And I admit that he screwed up big time… But it was an accident. I can assure you that he feels terrible about it himself. None of us wanted for this to happen and we're all so sorry. Could you please do me a huge favor and let it slide, just this once? Jane will apologize to you and he will have to do the mandatory anger management therapy…", she trailed off to check if she had already convinced him. She hadn't yet, so she tried a different approach.

"I really feel bad about this. I was just hoping we could solve this problem as quickly as possible and deal with this internally, so that it won't stand in the way of improving our relationship. I thought that we've made great progress up until today. I really enjoyed it and I would hate to throw that all away because of some stupid accident Jane caused."

Ardiles sighed and looked at her. "Fine", he said, "but he has to apologize to me personally and I want the most annoying therapist for his anger management."

"I know just the right one," Lisbon smiled. "What do you say we get back to Sacramento?"

Ardiles nodded and followed her to the car, which Jane was already leaning against.

Lisbon gave him her most deadly look. Jane took the hint and they drove back in silence.

* * *

><p>When they got back to the C.B.I. headquarters, Ardiles almost immediately went home to lie down for a while. This gave Lisbon the opportunity to talk to Jane about today's events.<p>

They sat down in her office, she behind her desk, Jane laying down on her couch. It was silent at first, until Lisbon sighed.

"So… What is _your_ opinion on what happened?", she asked him, clearly meaning him punching Ardiles.

Jane looked at her. "Well, I'd say my plan worked almost perfectly. Philips was having an affair with Emily. I didn't think Perry was in the fight club as well, though, so that's definitely worth investigating-"

"Jane! I'm talking about you hitting Ardiles! Why did you do that?", she cut him off.

Jane stayed quiet for a while and looked at her. "Oh. That", he said after a while. "It was an accident, really. But now you've brought it up I do think you apologized a bit too much, Lisbon. You really shouldn't suck up to him so much, remain some of your dignity! It's not like I put him in the hospital."

Lisbon couldn't believe what she heard. "Jane, you hit an attorney, a colleague, someone I invited to come along! If it was an accident, why didn't _you_ apologize? You should be grateful that I 'sacrificed my dignity' for you, because Ardiles was planning on putting you in jail for a very long time!"

"Meh," Jane replied and shrugged. "Wouldn't have happened."

Lisbon started to get really agitated. "He is an _attorney_, for God's sake! He prosecutes people for a living! You're not untouchable! With your record, he would have put you away and there would have been nothing you could have done to prevent it!", Lisbon practically shouted at him.

"He's not Superman! I could have handled him _easily_! I didn't ask for you to beg him on your knees, it was just an accident!", Jane shouted back, clearly upset by the way Lisbon handled the incident.

"An accident, my ass! Then what were you trying to do when that 'accident' happened?", Lisbon asked frustrated.

"I was trying to protect you!" Jane answered loudly.

Lisbon stayed silent for a moment, looking at him to see if he meant it, not sure how to react to this.

"I don't need your protection," she told him eventually. "But I do need you to apologize to Ardiles first thing tomorrow, and make it sincere. I'm also going to sign you up for anger management therapy, starting tomorrow morning. I've arranged with Ardiles that he will drop the matter after that. It's because of our bad relationship with Ardiles that I have to work with him, so I want to improve it, not make it worse."

Jane smiled at the irony of the situation. Lisbon doesn't want his protection, but naturally he has to accept hers.

"Sure", he replied shaking his head, not even wanting to start this battle. Lisbon's look softened.

"Good. Now about the case, what do you think?"

Jane looked at her for a moment, not thinking about the case at all, but then proceeded and tell her his thoughts on the case.

"I think we should have Van Pelt and Cho ask Perry where his wife was this afternoon and off course we should find out if the wives of those four men knew about the fight club," he told her.

"That's it? What about Philips? He was having an affair with the victim, wasn't he? And he has a violent streak, we've noticed that today. I like him for it," Lisbon asked.

"Nah, the killer slit her throat, very precisely. If Philips would have killed her, it would have been a crime of passion, this was not it."

"Alright, I'll call Cho and Van Pelt to find that out. And I'll have Rigsby run a background check on Moore and Scott. You come with me, I have to report to Wainwright about what happened today and arrange your anger management therapy."

Jane remained where he was, sprawled on the couch. "You go ahead," he told her. "I'll be here if you need me." He closed his eyes to prove the point. Lisbon rolled her eyes and left her office.


	5. Chapter 5

Distracted Chapter Five:

The next morning, Lisbon found herself looking down at the sleeping form of Patrick Jane. She knew he was faking it.

"Jane, get up. Your first anger management session starts in ten minutes."

Jane mumbled something unintelligible.

Lisbon sighed. "The sooner you're done with it, the sooner we can get to Fresno."

Jane opened his eyes. "If you wouldn't have signed me up for it in the first place, we could have left for Fresno right now," he muttered, but got up anyway.

"If you wouldn't have hit Ardiles, we would have been long on our way right now," Lisbon replied while they walked towards the psychologist's office together.

"Yes, Ardiles, where is he? I haven't seen him yet today," Jane asked. Before Lisbon could answer he continued amusedly.

"He's probably still at home, lying down, completely shaken because someone hit him. He such a baby, do you know how many times _I_ have been punched in the face? Have I ever blown off work?"

Lisbon made a face. "You're _always _lying down on your couch. Besides, Ardiles didn't stay home. He has to present a case in court today, he's probably preparing for it. You can apologize to him afterwards," Lisbon said. "Here we are; Miss Green's office."

Jane looked at her with disbelieve and dismay. "Oh come on, Lisbon, you can't be serious? Did you have to choose _her_? The girl is _twelve_! You expect me to listen to her for an hour?"

Lisbon smiled mischievously. "Sorry, Jane, she was the only one that could see you on such short notice. Besides, how is she ever going to get experienced when she never gets to treat anyone? I think you'll get along perfectly. Her… 'innocent' view might lend you new perspectives. I'll see you when you're done!" she said and walked away.

Jane sighed but walked in anyway.

* * *

><p>When Lisbon got back to her office, she was surprised to see Ardiles sitting on her couch.<p>

"Ardiles", she said surprised.

He looked absolutely miserable. She closed the door behind her and went to sit behind her desk.

"Is everything o.k.?" she asked cautiously.

He looked at her and she nearly flinched when she saw his face. His eye was completely black and swollen, the bruise spreading from the side of his nose to his eyebrow.

"I can't go to court looking like this!" he exclaimed.

"What do you mean? Why not?" Lisbon asked him, afraid he changed his mind regarding Jane's punishment, now it was clear just how bad his injury was.

"Lisbon, look at me! I can't prosecute like this, who would want an attorney that looks like he's been in a bar fight? I just know the jury won't convict the defendant, because_ I_ look like hell!" he said, clearly upset and somewhat panicky.

"No, Ardiles, that's not true..!" Lisbon said empathically, feeling sorry for him. "Trust me, it won't make a difference. You should go for it, as long as it doesn't hurt or anything."

Ardiles sighed and looked down, his shoulders slumped. Lisbon found it hard to imagine that this was the same man that had been so confident and in his element in court a few days back.

"I could help you conceal the bruise a little, if you want…" she asked him friendly.

"You think it would help?"

"It might…" she replied and started to search her desk drawer. She fished two small tubes out from it. She took the first and walked over to Ardiles while unscrewing the cap of the tube.

"This is something that will help to decrease the swelling and bruising," she told him while she placed her hand over his forehead, covering his eyebrow to prevent the ointment from getting in it.

"Close your eyes," she ordered him and he complied immediately.

She put some of the ointment on her finger and applied it on his bruises, softly stroking over his skin. "Does this hurt?" she asked, insecure about her own nursing skills.

"No," he replied, barely audible.

"There," she said. He opened his eyes again and cleared his throat.

"I'll apply the concealer in a minute," she said and sat down on the chair in front of her desk.

"Where's Jane?" Ardiles asked. Lisbon smiled.

"He's at his anger management therapy, with Miss Allison Green. She's fresh out of college, so I figured she would get a lot of practical experience with Jane as her client…"

Ardiles smiled broadly. "Always very thorough, these youngsters. I don't think Jane will be done with his therapy any time soon," he grinned. Lisbon smiled, happy his foul mood had lifted. She took the concealer from her desk and sat down next to him.

"Will that concealer make me look somewhat decent again?" Ardiles asked with doubt in his voice.

"I don't think it will cover up the bruising entirely, but that doesn't matter," she told him while unscrewing the cap of the tube and putting her hand on his forehead again. "Eyes closed…Good… The jury won't care about how you look, but about what you have to tell them. You'll do fine!" she said reassuringly and started to apply the concealer.

Ardiles huffed. "That wasn't what you said yesterday," he said quasi-blamingly. "You said that it was just because of my looks that I was able to win..!"

Lisbon remembered her outburst. She sighed and started to blush from embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," she apologized while she softly stroked his skin to cover up the bruise as much as possible. "Done," she said while putting the cap back on the tube and leaning back to admire her own work.

Ardiles smiled mischievously. "So, you also didn't mean that I'm good-looking?"

Lisbon smiled. "No, off course not, you have a black eye!" she teased him. "Now go prove you're one hell of an attorney!"

Ardiles feigned hurt but couldn't help but smile. He stood up and walked to the door.

"Thank you, I'll do my best. Will you come watch me today?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I can't… We have to get to Fresno again. I don't know what time I'll be back…"

"Oh, well, that's too bad… I guess we'll talk more tomorrow then…" he said and looked truly disappointed. Lisbon was surprised when she noticed she felt the same.

"I'll come by your office once we get back if it's any time normal, maybe you'll be there… We can update each other on our cases", she offered. Ardiles smiled. "Yes, we should do that," he said and left her office.

Jane, in the mean time had taken a seat opposite to his young therapist. He really didn't feel like undergoing anger management therapy in the first place, but he figured he might play around a little with some arrogant therapist. But this girl, that was no fun at all. It felt like arm wrestling with your little niece. So the situation didn't look good for him right now. He was stuck in here with a little girl whose job it was to help him with anger management issues he didn't have, while Ardiles could play the victim and have Lisbon nursing him. Jane decided he had to stop this nonsense as soon as possible.

The girl in front of him smiled friendly. Jane gave her his broad smile back. She started to talk.

"So, welcome, Patrick. Anger management, huh? That's probably not what you need, right?" she asked sympathetically.

Jane smiled. "No, no it's not what I need," he answered her.

She nodded. "I know you must be really annoyed that you have to invest your time in this, so let's see if we could make these sessions useful for you. The more you tell me, the sooner you gain something from these sessions as well."

She truly looked hopeful and Jane figured she may actually believe her own little speech. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry Allison, but I'm afraid there's nothing I could gain from this therapy, so let's get it over with as quickly as we can."

Allison looked taken aback. "Patrick, you shouldn't think that! The C.B.I. is your employer, surely they want you to profit from this therapy as much as you can. That's your right!"

Jane couldn't believe someone so naïve could find a job as a therapist, but he figured she probably had the highest marks in school. Those students were almost always the most unworldly. He decided that playing along with her naivety would probably work better than being difficult.

"Well, I guess you're right about that… I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I'll tell you everything you need to know, if only you can tell me what's wrong with me," he said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

"I'm glad you see it that way. I'll do my best to help you the best that I can; we'll figure it out together. Can you start by telling me what happened yesterday?" she asked sympathetically.

He sighed, all part of his act off course.

"Sure, well, let's see. We, that is agents Lisbon, Rigsby and Van Pelt, me and A.D.A. Ardiles, were fighting with some people that attacked us while we were investigating a homicide. At first, Ardiles and I didn't interfere with the fight, because we're not trained for it. But the bad guys were with four and the agents with three, so when I saw Lisbon being attacked by two men, I tried to help her by hitting one of the bad guys. Ardiles must have thought the same and must have made some quick move, because suddenly it was _his_ face my fist hit…"

"So, you didn't intend to hit him?" Allison asked. Jane shook his head. "But why did he insist on having you undergo anger management therapy instead of just accepting your apology?" she asked.

Jane tried to look as innocent as he could. "I didn't actually apologize _yet_…" he told her. "I was planning on doing that today, but it seems that we'll be stuck in Fresno until late tonight..."

Allison looked puzzled. "Why didn't you apologize immediately after you hit him?" she asked him. Jane started to get a little frustrated.

"Because! Because we were in the middle of a fight, four men from a fight club were coming at us; I didn't really have the time to think about it. Besides, it was dark, I didn't really see whom I hit," Jane explained to her. She nodded.

"How would you describe your relationship with Mr. Ardiles?" she asked. Jane shrugged.

"I don't know, just a normal one, I guess. He tried to put me in prison for the rest of my life, that's the kind of guy he is. I don't particularly like him, if that's what you're asking."

"And he doesn't like you, I assume…" Allison asked him. Jane shrugged again. I don't know, I guess he's the boring, rigid type, and I'm not… So I probably annoy him every now and then…"

"What were you charged with when he prosecuted your case?" she asked.

Jane hesitated. The following information may not have been the smartest thing to tell a therapist if he wanted to end his anger management as soon as possible. Still, he figured she would find out anyway, so it was best to tell her right now.

"I shot a man, a nasty man, a killer, whom I at the time believed killed my wife and daughter…"

Allison's mouth dropped a little and the shock was clear on her face. "I'm sorry about that…" she stammered. Jane smiled a sad smile.

"So… ehm… Why was Mr. Ardiles coming along with you on your case?" she asked quickly to change the subject.

"Wainwright ordered it last Friday. Ardiles had complained to him about Lisbon, so now they have to work together on both their jobs. It's a stupid plan, really, but Wainwright thinks it'll work. Lisbon and I can't stand Ardiles, let alone work with him and be nice to him all day. She has to be nice to him though, because otherwise she'll be stuck with him forever."

Allison started to write more stuff down than before. Jane wondered what, but couldn't see it. After she was done she looked up at him and started to ask some more.

"Do you think Lisbon managed to change Ardiles opinion about her these last few days?"

Jane huffed. "Pfft! That better be the case, if you see how she's been sucking up to him! Yeah, he changed his opinion, acting as if they're best buddies now, it's really pathetic to watch…"

"But Lisbon is actually _your_ buddy, right?" Allison asked. Jane nodded.

"Yes. We are. Buddies. I'm not saying that _I_ don't annoy her, but we're… partners. We have each other's back. We truly like each other, instead of pretending to like each other to avoid arguments… We argue! We argue all the time… But... but that's also a sign of affection, right? Because, when we argue, we know it doesn't really matter because we'll always stay friends and partners…" Jane rambled.

"So, she's someone very special to you?" Allison asked cautiously. Jane nodded. "Yes."

"So I can imagine she spends more time with Ardiles now, instead of with you, right?"

Jane didn't really respond but just looked at her. He knew where this was going, he only had to make sure he played along with what she was going to tell him, even though it was all nonsense.

"Can you tell me how your relationship with your mother was when you were young?"

Jane raised his eyebrows at the sudden change of subject. "Eh… Well, I… grew up without my mother," he told her.

"That must have been difficult," Allison said softly.

"And then when you just started a family of your own, that extremely awful, terrible thing happened with your wife and child... – two more important women in your life...

Teresa Lisbon has been an important woman in your life for a steady period of time now. It's only natural that you have developed affectionate feelings for each other, which causes you to get so angry when someone tries to take her away from you… You won't let anyone take her away from you like with the other women that were important to you… And in this case, you may have felt that Ardiles and Lisbon started to like each other, and you may have felt threatened by him… So perhaps in the heat of the moment, where you were getting in a fight or flight mode and wanted to protect Lisbon, you may have taken your anger out on the _real_ danger in the room, being Mr. Ardiles…"

Jane sat through the entire story without making a sound. He fought hard not to jump up and mock her for being the worst psychologist ever, since none of it was true, but he knew he had to play along. After she was finished with telling her little theory, Jane went into acting mode. He stayed silent and stared at the floor; as if he was trying to process what she'd told him. After a while he sighed.

"Jeez…," he said and looked at her. "I… I… don't know what to say, I… I think you're right! Now I've heard someone say it out loud, I recognize all those feelings I've been having… Wow, this is weird… I've been having these feelings, but I didn't know what to do with them and it was all such a mess, I just didn't know what to make of them… But you're right, off course you're right!" he exclaimed euphorically. Allison just watched him with a content look on her face.

"It explains why I was able to hit someone in the first place. Because normally, I never even _dare_ to use violence, not even when I get hit myself. But now, I just felt all those emotions surfacing at the same time when I saw Lisbon being in danger and Ardiles running up to her to play the hero. It's all so clear to me now, I feel like I'm finally in control over my own life again!" he said and worried that he may have overdone it a little with that. Allison didn't seem to notice though and started to scribble something on her note block.

"Wow, you are good! Fifteen minutes with you and you've unraveled all my problems for me!"

All the compliments he gave her on her theory made her feel confident enough to add some more to fund her theory.

"This explanation seems to fit with your history. The only other time you've used violence were when you've shot the man you believed murdered your wife and child. You've only used violence for someone you love. Now we should find a way to make you deal with your anger, because you can't go beating up everyone that gets a little too close to agent Lisbon."

Jane pretended to stare pensively out the window.

"I think understanding what's going on inside me has made a huge difference already," he offered, hoping she would feel that this was enough therapy for him.

She smiled. "I know, but it can't hurt to go over some things you could use to control your anger some more, we still have thirty-five minutes left," she said. Jane concluded from this that she would feel they were done after this one session, so he went along with her proposal, glad that his plan had succeeded.

* * *

><p>After he thanked her once more and they said their goodbyes, Jane hurried to make his way back to Lisbon's office. She looked up when he entered and a smile started to form on her lips.<p>

"So… how was it?" she asked mockingly. Jane sighed and plopped down on the couch.

He looked serious at her, which caused her to be even more curious about his therapy session.

"Lisbon, why do people always think you and I are having sex?" he asked and enjoyed her reaction immensely.

The smile fell from her lips and a bright red blush started to creep up from her neck to the top of her face. She frowned.

"They don't," she started out resolutely but soon didn't feel so sure anymore. "Did your therapist say that?" she asked him. He smiled his signature smile which caused Lisbon to look away and blush even more.

"When is your next session scheduled?" she asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"There won't be a next session, she cleared me already! We discussed everything that needed to be discussed today. So, shall we go to Fresno?" he asked casually and stood up to walk to the door. Lisbon was completely confused. She grabbed her stuff and followed Jane out.

"What? You're already done with your anger management?" she asked while they walked to the car.

"Yup," Jane answered.

"Then what did you discuss that it only took you one hour? And how did us sleeping together or not come up?" she asked.

Jane smiled. "Come on, Lisbon, you can't ask me that! That's private..!"

Lisbon looked at him with discontent, but she knew he was right. Besides, he was probably going to make her feel uncomfortable and embarrassed all day if she kept asking him about it.

They drove to Fresno where they met up with Rigsby and Van Pelt. They said that they were told none of the women in the neighborhood knew about the fight club. What the women definitely did know, was who was secretly sleeping with whom. It appeared that adultery wasn't uncommon in this neighborhood. The agents found that out that afternoon, when they split up again and went door to door to ask the neighbors for any information.

* * *

><p>They drove home after that and arrived back at C.B.I. around six thirty p.m.<p>

Jane walked towards the stairs to the attic, planning on calling it a day and lying down to muse on some stuff, when Lisbon called him back.

"Where did you think you were going?" she asked.

Jane raised his eyebrows. "To the attic," he replied.

"No, mister. You may have gotten out of anger management easily, but at least you're going to offer Ardiles a proper apology," she said sternly. Jane sighed.

"I'll do it tomorrow, he has probably gone home already…"

"I promised him I would check if he was still at work once I got back, so I could give him an update. You'll come with me. If he's not there you can apologize to him tomorrow."

They walked over to the D.A.'s office together. Jane kept muttering about how he thought it was ridiculous to think Ardiles would still be at work at this time.

"Come on, Jane, stop whining. You'll feel much better once you've apologized. Don't make such a big deal of it," Lisbon told him.

Jane raised his eyebrows in disbelieve. "_I'm_ making a big deal of it? _You're_ the one that is dragging me down to his office in the middle of the night! Only so I can walk all the way back when we find out he isn't there…," he said. Lisbon didn't respond to it.

"And when you do apologize, at least make it sound sincere. And don't tell him that you've manipulated your therapist into signing off on you after one session!" she said.

They entered the bullpen of the D.A.'s office and saw the light burning in one office, namely Ardiles'. Jane sighed and followed Lisbon. She knocked on the door and opened it when she heard a 'yes?' Ardiles looked up at the pair standing in his doorway.

"Hey," he said friendly.

"Hey," Lisbon responded.

"Hello!" Jane smiled.

Lisbon spoke up. "Jane came along to apologize, right Jane?"

Jane pulled his most serious face. "Yes, Ardiles, that's right. I came to offer you my sincerest apology. For smacking you in the face. It was an accident, but the anger management therapy you requested I get is still very useful…"

Ardiles raised an unimpressed eyebrow, but noticed how tense Lisbon was and decided to let it slide. "Thank you, Jane. That meant _so_ much to me, I'm glad you came by," he said with sarcasm.

Jane smiled. "Great, well, that's that then. Lisbon, you coming?" he asked her.

She looked at him. "You go ahead Jane, Ardiles and I have some more work to do," she told him. Jane looked from Ardiles to Lisbon to Ardiles.

"Well… have fun with that. I'll be going then," he said and walked out, leaving the door wide open. He didn't like the idea of Ardiles being alone with Lisbon, especially when the doors were closed.

Lisbon looked at Ardiles nervously, hoping he wouldn't get mad about the lame attempt at an apology Jane had shown. Ardiles didn't mention it though, but took a bite from the spaghetti on the plate in front of him. Lisbon realized it was really late for him to still be at work.

"Have a seat," he said and motioned for her to sit down on the couch.

He apologized for eating and offered her some, but she politely declined.

"I was starving, but I really needed to discuss some things with you," Ardiles told her.

Lisbon figured he stayed at work to wait for her to come back and wondered what he had to discuss with her.

"I'm sorry it took us so long to get back, but we had a lot of work to do over there," she said.

"That's o.k., I had a lot of work to do as well, so…" he said to try to hide that he had been waiting for her. "How is your case coming along? Learned anything new today?" he asked her.

"Hmm, it's okay… It's hard to find any motive for killing though, since everyone is doing it with everyone around there… Besides, the murder didn't even appear like a crime of passion, but to think that there's someone out there who has found another reason to kill someone besides adultery… It's really messed up," she told him.

"What happened with those four that attacked us yesterday? Did they say anything?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're in custody, but we don't know if we'll be able to link them to the murder. Philips did have an affair with the victim, but Jane doesn't think he did it. Those other two, Scott and Moore, are just Philips' puppets; they wouldn't hurt Emily if Philips didn't specifically order them to. Jack Perry is the only one that could have done it, but he has no motive…" she concluded.

Ardiles sighed. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help…" he offered. Lisbon smiled a tired smile.

"It would be a huge help if I didn't have to think about that case for the rest of the day. So tell me, how was your day?" she asked.

Ardiles hesitated.

"Well, your make up thingy worked…" he said and turned his face to show her his black eye was still somewhat covered up.

"But ehm… I think I still wasn't able to bring my A-game…" he trailed off and fiddled with his fork through his pasta.

"What do you mean?" Lisbon asked.

"Well, it's not really going as well as I'd hoped…," he told her. "As I expected, the defense is building their case around the way you tricked him into confessing…"

Lisbon frowned and sighed with frustration.

"Come on, Ardiles, we've been over this! Are you really going to let this guy get away with murder to teach me a lesson?"

She really didn't look forward to ending this long day by arguing with Ardiles. Thankfully, he didn't seem in the fighting mood either.

"No, off course not. That's why I need you!" he told her. Lisbon raised her eyebrows.

"To take the stand in court tomorrow," he added quickly.

Lisbon knew it was part of her job, but she didn't particularly like it to testify during a trial.

She sighed and looked up at him with an unhappy face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, not sure what he had done now to make her upset.

Lisbon looked away. "Nah, nothing, it's fine," she answered trying to sound tough again. She really wasn't planning on showing Ardiles her weakness, since they were always arguing.

Ardiles sensed there was something wrong though and he wanted to know what. He told himself it was because he wanted to be fully prepared for court tomorrow, and that it had nothing to do with making Lisbon feel better. He put his fork down and looked at her.

She shifted uncomfortable under his gaze. He leaned back.

"What is it, Lisbon, tell me..!" he asked laughing friendly.

"It's nothing! God, Ardiles, don't make such a big deal of it. If it's any concern to you, I will be sure to inform you immediately," Lisbon said somewhat rudely, but only because she didn't want to appear weak.

Ardiles raised his eyebrows and looked unpleased. He felt hurt by her blunt refusal to tell him what's wrong, especially since he tried so hard to be friendly.

"Fine," he said. Automatically, he went back into his professional mode, where he only has to worry about work-related things.

"Anyway, I've tried to disprove their arguments, but I think we need to persuade the judge and jury a little more that you're not the harsh, mean agent the defense makes them think you are," Ardiles told her. He noticed perfectly well that hearing what some people thought of her made her even more upset, but he didn't comment on it. He swallowed the last of his spaghetti and stood up to throw the empty plastic plate away.

"So, if you could come by my office tomorrow before 9 o'clock, we can go over your testimony. You understand it's important that you'll make a good impression in court tomorrow, so make sure you're properly prepared," he told her without looking at her.

He turned back around to face her but kept standing instead of sitting down next to her on the couch again. He hesitated what to do next. His hurt feelings told him to say goodnight and go home, but deep down he wished they would be friendly again and talk some more.

The unhappy expression on her face hadn't changed though, so he put his hands in his pockets, trying to look nonchalant, to hide his disappointment.

"Oh, and wear a dress, a black one preferably," he added casually before he turned again to arrange his desktop somewhat.

This finally elicited a verbal response from Lisbon.

"What? No!" she said with panic in her big eyes.

Her strong reaction made Ardiles turn and look her in the eyes.

He barely managed to suppress a smile when he saw her trying to cover up the sheer panic by giving him her tough face. She frowned. He raised his eyebrows.

"Lisbon, come on, tell me what's going on," he said.

She hesitated and looked very unpleased with the situation. Finally, she made a clean breast of it.

"I… I don't like to speak in court", she said, without looking at him.

Ardiles had put his hands to his sides and looked very amused at her. He remained silent, which caused Lisbon to look up at him. When she saw the amusement on his face, she started to ramble embarrassedly.

"It's just… I'm just not good at it, and… Well, now it's even more important I make a good impression, but I don't know… They already think I'm a bad agent, a bad person even, so… I'm certainly not wearing a dress..!" she ended, trying to sound somewhat firmly, but feeling more insecure than ever, not knowing where to look.

Ardiles in the mean time closed his eyes for a moment and smiled. He felt relieved to know her foul mood had nothing to do with him.

Lisbon didn't miss the twinkle in his eyes and suppressed smile when she finally dared to look at him.

"What?" she said as tough as she could.

Ardiles shook his head.

"Nothing." He glanced over at the clock and hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to Lisbon on the couch again.

"I could help you with that, if you want… Give you some tips?" he offered.

"Now?" Lisbon asked. Ardiles nodded.

"But… I don't know… didn't you have a lot of work? Don't you want to go home?" Lisbon asked.

"No..! No. No, I mean, I have time now, if that's alright with you?" Ardiles asked her.

Lisbon was glad he acted so nice instead of mocking her.

"Yes. Thank you, I'd like that," she told him.

"Okay," Ardiles started and got up. Without saying anything, he walked out his office towards the kitchen in the bullpen. Lisbon stood up as well and leaned at the doorpost. Ardiles grabbed two plastic bowls from the fridge and held them up.

"Potatoes or pasta?" he asked.

Lisbon laughed. "Eh… I'll have the pasta, thank you."

Ardiles put her diner in the microwave and opened the fridge again.

"What would you like to drink? I'm afraid we're out of wine at the moment, I'm very sorry," he joked. "But..! We do have Diet Coke, orange juice, energy drink and vodka… I'm not sure if vodka is the right drink to go with pasta, though. Do you even like booze?" Ardiles asked her. Lisbon laughed.

"Yes, I do like booze. But I think I'll have a glass of water, since tomorrow, I have a bunch of angry jury members to convince that I'm a decent person," Lisbon said.

A few minutes later, her diner was ready and they retreated to Ardiles' office. Lisbon went to sit back on the couch, but Ardiles grabbed her arms and guided her to sit behind his desk. He placed her plate in front of her.

"There. You sit here, then I'm going to stand over here," he said while he took a few steps back. "Now it's just like tomorrow, when you're on the stand."

"So, where shall we begin? You know the basics right? Don't say too much, look at the jury when you're relating events, don't let the defense attorney trick you into saying things, don't express your opinion unless specifically asked, etcetera, etcetera," he asked.

"Yeah, I do, but it's always harder to remember all that when I'm on the stand," Lisbon said.

"Okay, well, we'll go over what I'm going to ask you tomorrow first and then we'll practice some questions the defense will probably ask you. I'll try to give you tips on how to present yourself and the facts," he told her.

First, he told her to sit up straight, put her hands in her lap and show a neutral face. Then, he started to ask her about the case and her role in the entire matter. Immediately, he went into his "lawyer mode": smooth, sharp, at ease, a gentleman; casual, yet concerned for everyone's well-being. Lisbon enjoyed how he acted when he was working. He made use of his entire body while speaking. His dark brown eyes looked at her with an intensity that almost made her blush. He had a confidence only someone who was really good at what he did could afford. Lisbon noticed he enjoyed it every single time when he presented a case or questioned a witness. Even if it was to help her prepare.

* * *

><p>He helped her really well. Even though it was past seven-thirty, he still worked through the examination diligently. He started by asking her about her work at the CBI Serious Crimes Unit and the Criminal Justice Degree she received with honor. Then, he proceeded by asking her what she thought of the way they solved this case. Lisbon told him it was a bit unorthodox, but that she trusted Jane's insights. Ardiles listened to her answer very critically, thought about it for a moment and then advised her to paraphrase it slightly different.<p>

"No," he said. "Don't say it like that. Make sure you tell them you've met all the safety and professional standards."

Lisbon nodded. "Okay." Ardiles asked the question again.

"What did you think about the way you went about solving this case?" he asked.

"I did think it was a bit unorthodox, but after thinking it through, I decided this would be the most efficient way. I wouldn't have thought of it myself, but Jane has the talent to see through situations very quickly and I trust him with the plans he comes up with. I made sure all the safety and professional standards were met," she answered. Ardiles nodded his approval.

"Can you tell me what the nature of your relationship with Mr. Jane is?" he continued.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows. She couldn't help but remember what Jane had asked her when he came back from his anger management.

"_Why do people always think you and I are having sex?"_

She felt the same blush as then creep up from her chest. She hesitated and looked at Ardiles to try to see what he was thinking.

His expression was stoic. "Agent Lisbon, please answer the question," he said.

Lisbon looked at the plate of pasta in front of her.

"He has been the consultant for my team for approximately eight years now. He's my colleague and friend," she answered. She feared Ardiles wouldn't settle for this answer and keep on asking, but much to her surprise, he didn't.

"And what did you think about having to pose as his girlfriend during this case?"

Lisbon told him she didn't particularly like it, but that it wasn't something they hadn't done before. He asked her about how they had handled the undercover work, where she had to both act as Jane's lover and seduce the accused at the same time. She told him about how Jane always takes the lead in these situation and how he had told her through an earpiece how she should act, because she felt insecure about her acting skills in this area.

Ardiles advised her to also tell the jury tomorrow that she had been working during her time with Jane alone in the hotel room, going over the plan and the progress of the case.

Ardiles then asked her about her thoughts on the accused during the case and what had made them suspect the defendant first. Lisbon told him it was because Jane figured that one of three reasons why the killer wouldn't have thrown the body off the rooftop was that he suffered from acrophobia. Soon he noticed the desk clerk suffered from acrophobia, because he freaked out when he had to stand on a ladder to put up some decorations. Jane noticed during his first talk with him, that he kept staring at Lisbon with longing and desperation. That was why Lisbon had to seduce him, to see what he would do for love and to find out what kind of guy he was. Soon they discovered he lied about not knowing the victim, while she used to be his girl next door. Then they found out he knew about the victim's cocaine use and later identified him as the one who got the drugs for her. The only thing that stood in their way of arresting him was that the entire hotel staff vouched that he wouldn't go up to the rooftop. Jane deduced from what she told him about the desk clerk's behavior that he had been used by the victim to supply drugs for her, while he thought they were in love. When he had risked so much for her – and even had gone up to the rooftop so that she could do the drugs –, and she had turned down his declaration of love, he had snapped. So Jane had come up with a plan to show that the desk clerk did dare to go up to the rooftop, as long it was for love.

Ardiles interrupted her every now and then to tell her she shouldn't use so much police terminology, because the jury wouldn't understand it. Lisbon sighed and argued about it sometimes, because she didn't think it was necessary for her to explain every little thing. Besides, she started to get slightly annoyed by Ardiles' need to keep asking her to clarify that she wasn't in love or sleeping with Jane, and that she had made sure she remained the upper hand during the entire case.

When Ardiles ended his examination by asking her if she felt they had handled the accused' arrest well, she tried to be as clear as possible that she had followed protocol to the letter and that the accused' confession had appeared genuine. Ardiles however kept interrupting her by telling her to rephrase her sentence or explain some terms. She could see he started to get frustrated as well, especially when she argued with him about some things. When she was nearly finished with her answer and he still couldn't wait with his interruption, Lisbon had enough.

"Ardiles, shut up! I can't even hear myself think through all your comments. How do you expect me to formulate a proper sentence when there's someone continuously rattling over me like a little child?"

Ardiles, as usual, acted as if he didn't hear what she said and went on complaining about her choice of words.

"Enough with the police lingo, Lisbon, I told you! No one understands a word of what you're saying. This makes you look annoying, rather than likeable," he said frustrated.

Lisbon got worked up. "I'm _not_ going to make a circus act of it, Ardiles, contrary to you..!"

Ardiles raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "Just… please, do as I say. Okay? Thank you," he sighed. Lisbon rolled her eyes but said nothing.

"Okay. That was the examination. Now let's do the cross-examination," he told her.

He started to ask her some tricky questions about her actions regarding the accused. He tried to make her look like a merciless, harsh agent who would do anything for the highest closing rate or attention from men. He tried to trick her into agreeing to things she hadn't said and tried to get an emotional reaction from her. When that happened he practiced the right response with her. When he used a particularly clever way of trying to trick her, she looked at him for help. He smiled at the expression on her face.

"Don't look at me, look at the jury..!" he told her, while gesturing towards the pillows on the couch that functioned as jury. Lisbon didn't catch the amused look on Ardiles face and corrected herself.

"Oh. Right." she said while staring intensely at the couch. She hesitated because she didn't know how to reply. Ardiles finally decided to help her out.

"If a question like this comes up, wait for me to object. If it's overruled, take your time to answer as accurate as possible. Don't look at me though, otherwise the jury might think this is a damaging question.

Lisbon was relieved when he told her they were done with the tricky questions, but as soon as she heard the next question, she would choose the tricky ones any time over these.

"Miss Lisbon, you're not in a relationship yourself, are you?" he asked her. She didn't know if she hated the 'miss' instead of 'agent' more, or the question that followed.

"No," she answered, trying to hide her discomfort.

"You said that you weren't sure about your acting skills, but you've managed to fool my client…" Ardiles trailed off, purposely trying to see if she would react to this. She didn't because she knew she only had to answer questions, and this wasn't one.

"And you've spent a lot of time with him. Is it possible that you developed feelings for him, which you felt the need to punish him for?" he asked.

Lisbon looked at him in disbelieve. "No, definitely not," she told him.

"Then how about this: you, a single woman, spending time with your single colleague in an informal setting where you pose as his girlfriend… The excitement of the act, his charming way of treating you… You can't honestly tell me you didn't experience some feelings for Mr. Jane?" he asked her, looking at her with a daring expression on his face.

Lisbon frowned and looked at him in utter dismay.

"Oh come on! If you won't be able to get over this thing with Jane, I'm going home! Goodnight, Ardiles," she said while she stood up to leave.

Ardiles came towards her and grabbed both her arms and sat her down again.

"No, Lisbon, you'll stay here and we'll go over the entire cross-examination," he told her firmly.

Lisbon got angry and shrugged herself loose.

"You can't tell me what to do..! I'm not going to sit around here to get insulted by you!"

Once again he quickly got in front of her to block her way out. She stood dangerously close to him and tried to get past him.

"Come on, Lisbon, please, sit down. I'm acting as the defendant's attorney, you know I have to ask these things. And I'm glad we've been over this now, instead of tomorrow in court, given your reaction…" he said while looking down into her eyes. Lisbon got suddenly aware of the close proximity they were in and decided to yield. She sat down again.

"Fine. I'm sorry. Go on," she said, still a little upset.

Ardiles nodded. "Good. Where were we? Ah. So you're not in love with Mr. Jane, then how come you review his actions less critically than others'?"

"I don't," Lisbon answered firmly.

Ardiles smiled. "Okay, now, the last, but most important question. Think about this one very carefully. And be completely honest!" he told her with an earnest voice.

Lisbon felt tired and fed up with all the tricky questions she had to answer. She really didn't look forward to yet another thing she would have to argue about with Ardiles.

Ardiles looked straight at her and narrowed his eyes.

"What," he started, "is your opinion of the district attorney prosecuting this case? Is he amazing or what!" he asked while a full blown smile spread across his face.

Lisbon sighed and rolled her eyes at Ardiles' childish manner, but had to fight back a smile herself.

"Mr. Ardiles? I _hate _that guy, can't _stand _him. If there was any way to help you, I would, just to annoy him, but unfortunately, I did my work too good."

Ardiles' smile got smaller and he feigned disappointment. "Really, Lisbon..?" he asked dryly.

Lisbon remained silent and just smiled mischievously.

Lisbon made herself comfortable in his chair, while Ardiles started to clear up his office.

"Well, that's that. You think you'll be fine in court tomorrow?" he asked her.

Lisbon nodded. "Sure. Thanks."

"Not a problem. Oh, and remember: wear a black dress," he added casually.

Lisbon still didn't like the idea very much.

"Why?" she asked. Ardiles started to clear his desktop and pack his briefcase.

"Because studies have shown that black is the best color on a woman for looking believable," he told her without looking up from his work. Lisbon sighed.

"Why do I need to wear a dress?" she asked. He looked at her this time.

"We need to show the jury you're a nice woman with a soft side, aside from being a tough CBI agent," he explained. He went back to flipping through files before putting them into his briefcase.

"Also, I'm an idiot if I wouldn't make use of your beauty. Everyone likes a pretty girl, excuse me – woman. I'm sure you'll look gorgeous in a dress," he concluded.

Lisbon would have thought this to be the smooth talking you could expect from a lawyer who wants something from you – except his cheeks flushed a bright red and he didn't dare to look at her until they both left his office and he had locked up.

They left the office together in silence. When they reached the exit, they said their goodnights and Ardiles went out the door while Lisbon had to stop by her office first. They both wondered off, deep in thought about the events from this evening.


	6. Chapter 6

Distracted Chapter Six:

The next morning, Lisbon was staring at the blinking bar on her computer screen. The document title stated "STATUS REPORT". Lisbon didn't like writing official status reports, and normally Wainwright allowed her to update him personally, but since Jane punched Ardiles, he wanted regular, written status reports. So here she was, trying to be as thorough as possible. The cause of all this extra work was lying on her couch, dozing happily. Lisbon sighed loudly, secretly hoping to wake him. She hadn't though, so she went back to writing the report. She had relayed the events in the case so far, and had arrived at the case prognosis. It had been over five minutes since she wrote the words "Case Prognosis", and since then the only thing she had done, was stare at the blinking bar.

"Jane!", she whispered loudly. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"How do you think the case will develop? What will happen next? Are we any close to solving it yet?" she asked.

Jane blinked a few times to clear the sleep from his eyes.

"Well, how am I supposed to know that? I'm not a psychic, Lisbon," he joked.

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Quit playing games, Jane. Who do you think did it?"

Jane shrugged.

"I think it was Perry," she said, trying to sound as certain as possible. When she saw Jane's expression though, she failed miserably.

"What, it could be him!" she said. "You were wrong about him before, what makes you think you're right this time?" she asked him.

Jane looked insulted. "I wasn't wrong!" he said.

Lisbon smiled triumphantly. "Yes you were, you didn't think Perry would be part of the fight club, but he was!"

Jane didn't look too pleased. "Oh, that! I wasn't _wrong_ about that, I just didn't think of it," he said, trying to appear as if he didn't make a big deal of it.

Lisbon's smile faltered, disappointed that she had failed to win this argument from Jane.

"Well, I still think it says something about him that he managed to fool you into believing he's a perfect husband. Who knows what else he's been hiding," she said.

Jane didn't like her reasoning. He frowned deeply when she told him her theory.

"Noo…!" he said immediately after she was done, sounding as if she had said the most stupid thing in the world.

"It's not Perry, believe me. When he had to tell his wife why we arrested him, he was so upset. He sounded like it was the worst, most embarrassing thing he'd ever done..! I don't believe he's able to kill someone."

"Then how come you didn't catch that he was in the fight club as well?" Lisbon asked, still not sure what to think of that. Jane shrugged.

"Meh, it's nothing," he said, trying to sound unimpressed. But when he saw Lisbon didn't settle for this answer, he got a little annoyed. "I was probably just a little distracted or something."

Lisbon smiled. "Distracted? By _what_ were you distracted?" she asked mockingly.

Jane frowned. "Well, all that flirting between you and Ardiles didn't really help me concentrate. Some people find that annoying and unprofessional, you know?" he sneered.

Lisbon looked indignant. "I'm _not_ flirting with Ardiles!" she nearly shouted.

Right at that moment, her phone buzzed because of an incoming text from Ardiles.

"_Lisbon, please come to my office, I need you! Bring your make up thingies._"

Lisbon couldn't suppress a smile. She quickly texted him back.

"_Off course you need me. I'll be right there, pretty boy._"

Jane frowned. "That was Ardiles, wasn't it?"

Lisbon tried to look as honest as possible. "No."

Jane raised his eyebrows. "It _was_ Ardiles! Good God, what a loser! Hitting on any woman that comes within ten feet of him…" Jane said while shaking his head.

Lisbon didn't feel particularly happy with the way this conversation was going. She grabbed her purse.

"Well, anyway, I've got some things to do, but when I get back we really have to discuss the case prognosis, so don't go anywhere!" she told him.

He shook his head disapprovingly while she left her office.

* * *

><p>When she knocked on Ardiles door, he opened it himself. He was buttoning up his shirt and tied his tie neatly before putting on his jacket. He spread his arms and turned around.<p>

"Everything neat?" he asked her.

Lisbon nodded. "Very neat."

"Could you maybe help me again with my eye?" he asked, while he already closed his eyes and leaned forward. Lisbon leaned back to avoid him bumping into her. She grabbed the tubes from her purse and started to apply the ointment again, while she held his face in the palm of her left hand to keep it steady. He seemingly relaxed when she stroked the skin around his eye and sighed. To mask this, he quickly started to talk.

"You're not wearing a dress…" he stated.

Lisbon remained silent until she finished covering his bruises with ointment and let her hand slide from his face.

"Done," she said.

Ardiles opened his eyes and leaned back.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because it's not very practical for me to wear a dress at work. It may surprise you, but chasing after bad guys gets really hard in a dress," she told him.

Ardiles put his hands in his pockets and leaned on the edge of his desk. He raised his eyebrows and tried to hide his disappointment. Lisbon saw it clearly written on his face though. She knew she could solve his problem by telling him about the dress she had in her office and planned to wear for her court appearance, but she knew he would want to see her wear it and give his opinion and that would make her very uncomfortable. So she tried to distract his attention from the matter.

"Jeez, Ardiles, if your whole case depends on me wearing a dress, you may not be such a great lawyer after all…"

Ardiles smiled. "Shut up, Lisbon. You know I'm awesome. I'm just disappointed that I won't be seeing you in a dress," he said.

Lisbon started to blush and looked down to search her purse for her concealer. Ardiles noticed it and smiled. She found it soon enough and told him to close his eyes again. She was careful not to get any of the concealer in his eyebrows or lashes, but noticed that her hands were shaking slightly, as if she was nervous. She hated herself for letting his compliments get to her so easily. His skin felt hot under her fingers and they stood so close to each other she could feel his breath. She blushed a bright pink and was happy his eyes were still closed.

When she had finished, he opened his eyes and looked straight into hers.

"Thank you," he said and only then did she notice she was still standing way too close. She took a step back.

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you need from me? Otherwise I should probably get back to my office, Jane and I have some work to do, you know, reports to write," she rambled while she made her way to the door.

Ardiles looked somewhat taken by surprise by her sudden departure.

"No, this was all. I guess I'll see you in court later today then. Good luck in there!", he said. Lisbon smiled friendly. "Yes, thank you. You too!" she said and left.

* * *

><p>When she got back to her office, Jane was nowhere to be found. She tried to call him, but he didn't answer his phone. She went to sit behind her desk again and sighed. Instead of working in the field, she was stuck in here for the rest of the morning. The afternoon would only be worse, because she would be waiting for her court appearance, wearing a dress. So much for being a tough CBI field agent…<p>

As if he had sensed it, Jane came walking through her door right after she had finished the status report.

"Hey," he smiled friendly. "You wanna go have lunch?"

Lisbon closed her laptop and grabbed her jacket and purse.

"Where have you been?" she asked while walking out with him.

"Oh, I went to talk to Scott and Moore and Philips before they posted bail and went home," he told her dryly.

"I told you to wait in my office, now I had to figure out the case prognosis all by myself!", she said, trying to sound pitiful.

"Don't you want to know what I've learned?" he asked.

Lisbon did want to know that. "Yes."

"I asked Scott and Moore why they joined Philips' fight club. Moore said it was because he did it to fight the boredom from living in that community…" Jane told her.

"I can almost understand that," Lisbon said. Jane smiled because he knew how much she loved action and started to feel a little bad for leaving her to work on the status report alone.

"I know you do," Jane replied. "But Scott, he couldn't give me a reason for why he joined. He just shrugged. I asked him if it was because of the boredom, which is the simplest answer, but he said no. He didn't seem to be bored at all, so I wonder what keeps him occupied…." Jane said.

Lisbon shrugged. "It's worth checking out, although it could just be that the everyday life is enough to keep him busy…" Lisbon said.

"He did seem a bit sheepish to me, the type that likes to follow orders instead of thinking himself," Jane agreed.

When they sat down with their food and drinks, Jane looked at Lisbon with such mischief in his eyes, that Lisbon couldn't suppress a laugh.

"What is going on with you?" she asked.

"How long were you planning on keeping that dress in your office a secret from me?" he said leaning forward, smiling triumphantly.

Lisbon tried to seem casual. "No, I wasn't like I was keeping it a secret, I just don't see why it would be important for me to tell you what clothes I have in my office."

Jane leaned back. "Lisbon, it's a dress! Whenever you're wearing a dress, it's important for me to know of" he said.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows but decided it was best not to ask further if she didn't want to be embarrassed.

"Right. Well, I have no idea why any of it would have to do with you, but I'm not even wearing a dress right now, so let's just leave it" she said.

Jane smiled his signature smile. "Okay…" he said, while still trying to figure out when she would wear the dress.

Lisbon just took a bite from her sandwich when her phone rang. It was Ardiles. Jane's smile faltered as well as Lisbon's, since she figured it had either to do with the case, which she was still nervous about, or it had nothing to do with the case, in which case she would be even more nervous for discussing that in front of Jane.

She answered the phone while trying to avoid looking Jane in the eyes.

"Ardiles, what can I do for you now?" she started and realized immediately it might have sounded a little harsh. She just didn't want to be too nice to him and feed Jane's theory of her flirting with him.

"Well," Ardiles started hesitatingly, "I was thinking that maybe we could have lunch and go over your testimony one last time?" he asked. Lisbon sighed.

"I'm sorry, I'm just having lunch with Jane…" she said.

"Right, off course. You have a case to work… Well, we still have an hour before we have to be in court, perhaps you could come by my office before that?"

Lisbon thought about the dressing up she had to do before court, so there really was no time, although she felt sorry for repeatedly blowing him off.

"I'm sorry, Ardiles, but I have some stuff to do before court. But I think I'll be okay. No need to worry" she tried to secure him. Ardiles sighed.

"So I guess there won't be any chance for me to maybe talk you into wearing a dress then?" he asked. Lisbon closed her eyes and smiled, which didn't go unnoticed by Jane.

"God, why does everybody obsess over that dress so much? Let it go!" she laughed.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Ardiles asked. "Lisbon?" he asked loudly, right before Lisbon hung up. She smiled and looked at Jane, who looked at her amusedly.

"So, that explains the dress then…" he stated. Neither of them particularly liked to talk about how Ardiles charmed her into wearing sexy clothes for him, so they finished lunch talking about their case.

* * *

><p>When Lisbon got back to her office, she knew she had to change into the silky, black V-neck dress that hung from her closet. It wasn't that she didn't want to wear a dress – she had done that plenty enough times. It was just that she wasn't used to being the feminine, beautiful woman all the men were drooling over. And frankly, she didn't think wearing a dress would make her appear more like a girly girl. She feared it would look ridiculous and fake and everyone would notice that she felt uncomfortable.<p>

When she had put on the dress and matching half open black heels, she looked at herself in the mirror. She did look nice. The dress was sleeveless, which was nice, since it was hot outside and the temperature in the badly ventilated courtroom could rise up to 85 degrees. The dress didn't show any cleavage, but was cut low enough to have the cross on her necklace glimmer visible. The body of the dress was tight and hugged her in all the right places while the skirt hung loose from just under her hips to her knees. If it had been any other occasion than testifying in court with Ardiles watching every move she made and Jane continuously trying to make her uncomfortable, she would be happy to wear this dress. She glanced over at the clock and saw that she had twenty minutes before the trial started again. She didn't want to be late, but she also hoped to avoid Ardiles before they had to be in court so he wouldn't be able to comment on her dress.

Meanwhile, Ardiles was also looking in the mirror, staring at his covered-up black eye. It still looked decent enough. He thought about how skillfully Lisbon had applied the concealer on his bruises that morning. Even though the memory of her fingers tracing ever so gently over his skin made him smile, he felt a little bothered by the fact that she wouldn't just wear a dress. It wasn't such a big deal, why couldn't she just do what he asked. It certainly would have made him feel a lot more in control. Also, he wondered why she wouldn't come to him to go over the case once more and why she just hung up the phone without explaining her cryptic statement. He just couldn't figure out what was going on inside her head.

* * *

><p>Ardiles entered the courtroom right before Lisbon went to inform the warder of her arrival. Since the trial would be starting soon, he asked her to wait outside. She went to sit and patiently waited for him to summon her. It took a little while though, since there were more witnesses that had to testify. A good hour later though, it was her turn.<p>

She followed the warder into the courtroom and tried to look as confident and at ease as possible. She tried to ignore all the eyes that were focused on her, but she couldn't help but want to see Ardiles' reaction to her appearance. As soon as he saw her, his eyebrows nearly hit his hairline and his lips parted slightly. His eyes followed her every move while he looked her up and down. She went to the witness stand and was sworn in by the court clerk. When she went to sit down, Ardiles walked up to stand in front of her. He still looked somewhat bemused by her stunning appearance.

"Thank you, miss… Eh, agent Theresa– agent Lisbon, sorry", he stammered and smiled apologetic. Lisbon gave him a friendly smile back and shyly brushed a strand of hair from her face.

Ardiles straightened his shoulders and cleared his throat. He proceeded by asking her about her outstanding records from college, like they practiced.

"And also, is it correct that your team solves the most cases in the state?" he asked her while he turned to look at the jury while he mentioned this.

"Yes" Lisbon answered uncomfortable, feeling like she was bragging. Ardiles turned back to look at her. His eyes immediately started to wander over her face and body again.

"That's pretty…" he responded a little distracted.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows and Ardiles snapped out of his reverie. "Amazing" he concluded his sentence, feeling so embarrassed that he couldn't look at her. Someone in court snickered barely audible. He threw an annoyed look over his shoulder, but in fact he was more annoyed by his own screwing up.

He looked down, then up, then closed his eyes, cleared his throat, straightened his shoulders and opened his eyes again, looking straight into Lisbon's and went on with his examination with more perfection than ever before.

When he went to sit again to watch the cross-examination, he felt very content with both his and Lisbon's performances, so he leaned back a little, convinced that the defense attorney had nothing on Lisbon anymore. The defense attorney started.

"Miss Lisbon, let me start by complimenting you on how beautiful you look" he said. Lisbon stayed silent at first and gave him a suspicious look. "Thank you…" she answered him cautiously, feeling he was trying to trick her into something. The defense attorney smiled back at her.

"You must like it that you can make men fall for you with just the blink of an eye, as Mr. Ardiles demonstrated earlier…" he said, hinting at the way Ardiles had been distracted by her appearance at the beginning of his examination. Lisbon raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth without knowing what to say. Within a split second though, Ardiles had shot up from his chair and called out "objection!", while a pink blush started to creep up his olive colored skin. This caused the people in the courtroom to laugh and even Lisbon couldn't hide her amusement. The defense attorney withdrew his comment and went on with his cross-exam, which Lisbon handled with ease and grace.

* * *

><p>When she left the courtroom, Lisbon felt really relieved that everything went well. She got herself something to drink and walked back to her office. Before she entered the CBI building, she hesitated. Even though she had started to feel at ease wearing this dress, she felt a bit uncomfortable wearing it while at work, in front of her close colleagues. She quickly walked in and sneaked around the building until she nearly reached her office. She waited around the corner for a moment to see that Van Pelt was on the phone, typing very busily on her computer. Rigsby and Cho were in Fresno and Jane was no-where to be found. Lisbon checked the bullpen, to see if maybe he was making some tea, but he wasn't. Lisbon tip-toed to her office, opened her door and turned to close it immediately after her.<p>

"Whoa… Wow..!" she heard coming from behind her. Startled as hell, she turned around, her heart beating insanely fast. She saw Jane slowly rising from her couch, holding his cup of tea and a platter, while looking her up and down.

"Jane! Jeez, you scared the hell out of me! What are you doing here? Don't sneak up to people like that, it's creepy!" she yelled at him, still very startled and upset.

Jane hadn't heard a word she said, but just looked at how beautiful and gorgeous she was in this dress. It accentuated the shape of her body and Jane noticed how small she really was. He had to fight hard to refrain from putting his hands on her sides and pulling her close to him. Her dark brown hair curled around her shoulders and framed her immensely pretty face, with those beautiful big bedroom eyes, looking dreamy as ever. A light blush had formed on her cheeks and her lips were slightly parted, he assumed as a result from the scare he gave her. Her arms hung loosely besides her body and when her gorgeous legs started moving towards her desk and the skirt of the dress swayed around them, he nearly dropped his cup and platter in dire need to touch her. He licked his lips that had gone dry from having his mouth open for too long and turned to place his tea on the side table next to the couch.

Lisbon stood at her desk with her back towards him, looking through some papers. She felt his stare fixed upon her and started to feel uncomfortable. She tried to say something to distract from the tension.

"Any news on the case?" she managed to ask after a long silence. She didn't dare to turn around and look at him, afraid of what she would see in his eyes and more so what he would see in _her _eyes and of all what that meant.

She heard Jane swallow and before she knew it, he had grasped her wrist and softly pulled her back to turn her around. They were facing each other, Jane was still holding her wrist and Lisbon looked down. He stepped even closer to her and looked down at her face. He tried to figure out what he should do next, but all of the sudden he noticed he had no idea anymore. Uncharacteristically shy, he started to blush and feverishly tried to focus his thoughts on how to proceed, while all he could think about was the sound of his blood pulsing through his ears.

He looked down to his hand that was still holding her wrist. It looked so small in his large hand, his fingers and thumb almost overlapped to the second knuckle. Never before had he realized how delicate she was. He lifted her wrist up and kept staring at it.

"Look at that…" he whispered.

For the first time, Lisbon dared to look up from the ground and looked at his hand around her wrist. She had no idea what was going on with him and looked at him in utter confusion. He looked back and his face showed the same confusion as hers. He let her hand slide from his and fall to her sides.

"Teresa…," he started and Lisbon wasn't sure if she should stop him before he said things that would change everything. She felt extremely unprepared for this surreal world she had stepped into just minutes ago. Still, she let it happen and watched Jane determine where this was going to end.

"…I'm sorry I startled you" he eventually whispered and she could see the defeated look in his eyes just before he looked down to hide his lack of courage.

They both stood there, so close they nearly touched, with no idea where to go from here. What to say or what to do. Jane looked to the side and swallowed to hide the disappointment he had seen on Lisbon's face as well. Then, he took a step back and decided they had entered the real world again.

"So, how did your court appearance go?" he asked.

Lisbon worked hard to remember her cheerful mood right after she had left the court room.

"It went really well, I think" she said, trying to seem as genuinely as possible.

"That's great" Jane responded. "Ardiles must be happy."

Lisbon remembered Ardiles again.

"Oh, right, yes. I haven't heard from him though, he had to stay in court a little longer. I'll go over to his office later to ask how it went, but first I'm going to change into more practical clothes and get a proper case update" she said.

Jane went to sit back down on the couch again. If it was up to him, she would never change into anything else than this dress again. So he made sure he'd stick around for as long as possible, so she wouldn't change.

"I don't think there's anything new to tell about the case yet. Cho and Rigsby aren't back yet, and Van Pelt has been busy with checking people's records. I have some ideas forming in my mind though and I maybe have a plan to catch the killer, but nothing concrete as of yet" he told her while his eyes were still glued to her.

"What? Who do you think the killer is? How are we going to catch him?" she asked.

Jane was just going to explain to her that he couldn't tell her yet, because he had nothing concrete, but he was interrupted by someone knocking on her door. Lisbon and Jane looked at each other with dread in their eyes, as if they were going to get caught making out. Then, they both looked down at her dress and back at each other again. Lisbon tried to hide the dress as much as possible by going to sit behind her desk, much to Jane's dismay. Lisbon called out "enter!" and the door swung open, revealing Ardiles in the doorway, looking very suspicious of the long pause before the 'enter' when he spotted Jane sitting on the couch and Lisbon looking very flustered. She relaxed when she saw it was him and got up from behind her desk.

"Hi!" she greeted him friendly. Ardiles smiled the broadest smile ever.

"There you are!" he said cheerful. "I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you earlier, they skipped recess so we'd be done earlier, but I came as soon as I could."

"Don't worry, you weren't missed" Jane mumbled. Ardiles barely acknowledged him.

"So, what do you think about today? How did I do?" Lisbon asked somewhat insecurely.

Ardiles smiled. "Are you kidding me? You were amazing! Unbelievable, you totally nailed it!" he told her happily. Lisbon smiled contently and a little shy from all these praises. Ardiles continued. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you just acted as if you weren't good in court to spent more time with me…" he teased her playfully.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows indignantly. "My God, I can't believe that ego of yours!"

Ardiles grinned.

Jane had watched the exchange from the couch with a look of utter dismay on his face. He couldn't stand to watch this ridiculous and embarrassing scene any longer. The way Ardiles was hitting on Lisbon; it was just too pathetic to bear. Jane cleared his throat and got up.

"Excuse me, I'm going to make myself some new tea" he stated while he left the room, without a response from Lisbon or Ardiles.

"Lisbon, you have no idea how happy I am with you today!" Ardiles went on. "They're entire case was build on making you look bad, but you gave them no chance. Right after court was adjourned, the defense attorney came straight to me and wanted to make a deal!"

"Wow, Ardiles, that's great news! Congratulations! What did they propose?" Lisbon asked.

"I have no idea. I told them to get lost, because I had more pressing matters to handle" Ardiles told her with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Lisbon shook her head and laughed. "I can't believe you said that. Tell me, what is it that's so important it can't wait?"

Ardiles grinned like the Cheshire cat. "What's so important, Lisbon, is that you and I are going to celebrate this victory!"


	7. Chapter 7

Distracted Chapter Seven:

_Ardiles grinned like the Cheshire cat."What's so important, Lisbon, is that you and I are going to celebrate this victory!"_

Lisbon smiled at the proposal. She wasn't sure whether she really should be celebrating anything, since it was a Thursday night and she had to be at work bright and early the next morning, but she was kind of proud of herself and she did like to just have a good time and relax a little.

"Alright, sure" she laughed. "But let me change into my other clothes first" she asked.

Ardiles looked at her in disbelief and shook his head. "No way" he told her resolutely. "No, Lisbon, you're wearing the dress. There's absolutely _nothing _I won't do to make sure you wear this dress tonight."

He looked up at her with an intensity and a matter-of-factness that amused her greatly. She laughed and shrugged. "Okay"

This seemed to satisfy Ardiles and he relaxed again. "Good. Because you look absolutely amazing."

Lisbon smiled shyly and thanked him.

"Are you ready to go? Or do you have some more work to do?" Ardiles asked her.

"Just one minute, I have some things to discuss with Van Pelt. You go ahead, I'll come by your office as soon as possible" Lisbon said.

"Actually, my car is right outside the CBI building. But you go ahead, I'll wait here" he said.

Lisbon looked puzzled. "I thought we were going to have drinks over at your bullpen with your colleagues to celebrate?" she asked him. He smiled.

"Yeah, normally I would, but with you looking like this… I'm just not looking forward to having all my colleagues drool over you all night" he told her with a meaningful look.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows and turned around to grab some stuff she pretended to need, just so she could hide her reaction to his compliments.

"Come on, surely you understand! I'd go crazy with jealousy!" he said with a fake pout.

Lisbon turned around to look at him, not sure how to react to his blunt statement. Ardiles saw it and couldn't hold back his laughter anymore.

"I mean, _I_'m normally the prettiest around there, _I _normally get all the attention! With you there, I wouldn't stand a chance" he said between laughs.

Lisbon laughed and threw him a quasi-empathetic look. "Aw, poor you. You're right, that's definitely not an option. So what _did_ you have in mind exactly?"

"Well, I know this new place where you can eat and party later..!" he said, trying to sound casual, but failing miserably. This started to sound an awful lot like a date…

"It's not like a date, or something, it's just a nice place" he continued. "You can eat at the bar and watch the cooks prepare the meals. And the parties afterwards are great, so …" he trailed off.

Lisbon tried to hide her smile. "Sure, that sounds nice."

"Not that it really matters, right. I mean, you like booze, I like booze, as long as there's booze, we'll be alright" he joked. Lisbon answered with an amused "exactly!"

* * *

><p>Lisbon went to talk to Van Pelt and asked for any progress on the case. Van Pelt had found some small things, but nothing big yet and was still waiting for Cho and Rigsby to get back. Lisbon told her she was leaving for the day and asked her to write down the important things and leave it at her desk. Van Pelt wished her a pleasant evening and smiled when she saw Ardiles waiting for her.<p>

They walked to his car in silence. When Lisbon spotted the black Aston Martin parked directly in front of the CBI entrance, she laughed.

"Wow! I guess I could have known you would drive a car like this" she said.

Ardiles smiled proudly and amused at her reaction.

They got in and drove to the restaurant with Pitbull's greatest hits blasting through the speakers as soon as Ardiles started the engine. For the entire ride, he couldn't get enough of telling her how great she looked, how devilish she had been not telling him she was going to wear this dress and how surprised he had been when she had walked into the courtroom looking like that. Lisbon had never seen him so good-tempered and she decided to enjoy it for as long as it lasted.

Unbeknownst to them, Jane had seen them leave together and even though he had tried to let it go, eventually he failed. He watched them leave through the window in the bullpen and made his way towards the elevator, all the while ignoring Van Pelt's knowing stare.

Following them unseen appeared to be a little harder than he had figured though, since his car stood out even more than Ardiles'. He tried not to think about what he was doing and why he was doing it and told himself that he would just see where they were going and then return to the CBI. But when Ardiles parked his car in front of a trendy new club and he and Lisbon walked in chatting away happily, he decided he should check the atmosphere inside.

Inside, pop-music was playing softly. The loft was very large, with a modern interior. There were all kinds of little spots; small tables, large tables, coffee tables with couches and a digital fireplace, a bar with neon light behind it, bar tables, fat boys and a broad bar that was built around an open kitchen. Ardiles guided Lisbon to the bar and they sat down. It was quite crowded already, but since it were just the two of them, there was still room enough.

Jane had entered a few minutes after Lisbon and Ardiles. He went to sit at one of the couches, somewhere in a corner, where he could see Lisbon and Ardiles, but where they wouldn't spot him. He brought a book as not to look too suspicious and pretended to read it while watching Lisbon and Ardiles order their food and open a bottle of wine, seeming to enjoy themselves immensely.

They toasted to today's success and watched how the cook prepared their meals. It looked very impressive and the cook doubled his efforts to make a show of it when he noticed it was for Lisbon. Ardiles joked to him that he should keep his eyes on the food, because otherwise they would have burned meals.

While they ate their meals, they joked and laughed a lot and talked about how well their case had gone today.

"You see, you shouldn't have worried! It was fun, right?" Ardiles asked her while he poured them another glass of wine.

Lisbon smiled. "Yes, it was fun! Particularly when you objected when the defense attorney said that I'd distracted you at the beginning..!" she teased him and laughed when she thought about how embarrassed he had looked. Even now he got a bit flustered.

"No, that _wasn't_ funny. Besides, it had nothing to do with me personally, everything about that question and the way he asked it was completely wrong and he knew it. How's your meal?" Ardiles asked quickly to divert the attention. Lisbon grinned.

"It's very good. When I woke up this morning, I'd never thought that I would be eating here tonight, with you" Lisbon told him.

Ardiles smiled but got a little shy from her genuine friendliness. He looked down at his food.

"Well, don't get any ideas. I still hate your guts" he said and smiled teasingly when Lisbon laughed.

"No, I'm serious" he continued. "This whole celebration night, it's really a selfish act. When you make my job and thereby my life harder, which you mostly do, I punish you by being angry. When you make my job and thereby my life easier, as you did today, I reward you by being nice. It's as simple as that." He couldn't help but crack a little smile through his serious façade.

Lisbon looked quasi-insulted. "You're an ass, you know that?" she told him. He grinned.

"So basically, you treat me like a dog?" Lisbon asked him.

Ardiles decided to go with it and showed his most innocent face. "A very pretty dog…" he told her.

Lisbon raised an eyebrow. "So, how has that been working out for you so far..?" she countered.

He was silent for a moment and thought about all the times he had been frustrated because Lisbon and her team had ignored his requests and had done whatever they seemed fit. Then he smiled and bowed his head in defeat. "You're right", he laughed.

Lisbon swallowed the last bit of her drink. "I thought so. Because if I'm a dog, you're not exactly Cesar Millan, mister."

He smiled and swallowed a bit of his food. "Well, I could be if you want me to" he said in a thick Spanish accent giving her a smile that showed all his teeth. They laughed and finished their meal while Lisbon thought about Ardiles' Cuban decent.

* * *

><p>The waiter had just collected their plates when Ardiles filled up Lisbon's nearly empty glass. Lisbon groaned. "No, Ardiles, I have to work tomorrow" she said, already feeling a light buzz coming up.<p>

Ardiles sighed. "Can we please drop the last name calling, at least for tonight? From now on, you're going call me Oscar and I'm going to call you Teresa" he said firmly.

Lisbon laughed. "Sure, _Oscar_. But I really should slow down on the booze" she said. Ardiles gave her a disapproving look.

"Come on! Surely you can handle more than this! I thought you said you were tough…" he trailed off, deliberately provoking her. It worked like a charm.

"I _am _tough! A lot tougher than you, at least" she responded immediately with a brightness in her eyes that made Ardiles enjoy this even more.

"Oh really?" he said. "You don't hear me whining about drinking too much. But I guess I can hold my liquor better than you…" he said, trying to sound nonchalant. Lisbon responded exactly as he'd hoped.

"Yeah right! You wish, mister. I'm _so much _tougher than you and you know it, but if I can prove it for once and for all by winning a stupid drinking game from you, I'll do it gladly" she answered with a challenging look in her eyes and a competitive smile playing around her lips.

"Nah, no, that wouldn't be right. It's your right to say when you've had enough to drink and I wouldn't be much of a gentleman if I wouldn't respect that" he said, trying to keep from grinning broadly but failing anyway.

Lisbon huffed. "Look, sweetheart, I can drink you under any goddamn table you want, so don't worry about me" she said, quoting Elizabeth Taylor.

Ardiles bit his bottom lip from excitement, and with a twinkle in his eyes he challenged her. "Alright, _sweetheart_, show me what you've got then. In turns we'll decide what we're drinking. Who'll last longest, wins. I'll start" he said and turned to the barkeeper.

"Can I get you another bottle of wine, sir?" the barkeeper asked.

"No, we would like two shots of vodka, please" he asked.

The barkeeper smiled. "Off course, sir" he said and poured them two glasses.

Ardiles looked at Lisbon. "We are here to celebrate a case, right?" he smiled while he put her glass in front of her with a bang. Lisbon wasn't impressed.

They toasted and knocked back the drink at once. Both slammed their empty glasses down and tried to look impassive, while the alcohol burned in both their throats. Lisbon decided not to wait any longer and leaned over the bar to ask the bartender for two tequila shots, lemon parts and some salt. The bartender looked amused at the pair, looking super sharp but drinking like a bunch of students on spring break. He placed the goods in front of her.

"Thanks" Lisbon said. "Sir, could you please keep an eye out and tell us when we've had enough. We have to be at work tomorrow, so…" she asked him.

The bartender looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Sure, sweetheart" he said. "You just enjoy yourself and have fun with your friend."

Lisbon thanked him. Ardiles laughed at her while she grabbed his hand to pour some salt on his thenar.

"Teresa! You cannot be serious! You need me to call you a babysitter, too?" he asked mockingly. She gave him a lemon wedge.

"Shut up, Oscar" she said while she poured herself some salt too. They looked at each other and toasted again. Simultaneously, they licked the salt from their hands, knocked back the tequila and took a bite from the lemon.

They put their glasses back on the table while Ardiles ordered them another shot of vodka. Lisbon made a quarter turn and rested her arm on the bar, while she looked at him

"What?" Ardiles asked while he turned to mimic her position.

"I think it's funny that your name is Oscar, because you're just like Oscar the Grouch, from Sesame Street" Lisbon told him and laughed when she saw his stunned expression. "He is always grumbling as well! You even look a bit like him, with those eyebrows of yours" she continued enthusiastically and stroked his eyebrows.

This made Ardiles smile proudly. "Oh wow! I always thought he was so cool, thank you!" he laughed.

* * *

><p>They laughed and chatted and kept ordering more shots. Around them, the place transformed into a nightclub, the music got louder and lights dimmed. Tables were put to the side and a dance floor was created. Jane sat still on the couch in the corner, watching Lisbon and Ardiles having the time of their lives. He had ordered himself something to eat and to drink and was telling himself he should leave, but he didn't. He wished he could just go up to them and that he would see in Lisbon's eyes that she was happy to see him. That she would show him that she liked to be with him outside of work. That she wanted to have fun with him, that she would come with him and leave that sorry bastard behind.<p>

He wished he would be the guy that she could party with, that could casually flirt with her and could be more than just a colleague, without having the serious air of tragedy and sadness around them. But right now he was watching her secretly from a corner, while Ardiles was making her laugh and ordering them some exotic cocktail.

They looked at each other while they battled on who could empty the cocktail glass first while drinking through a straw. Ardiles won, but barely. Lisbon frowned while she ordered them the sweetest cocktail she knew, but even with the bright pink drink standing in front of him, he wouldn't wipe that triumphantly smile from his face.

"Don't look so happy, mister. It's not like you're winning or anything… In fact, I've already won! I am definitely tougher than you, because… I have never seen you being tough, just cranky" she teased him, her inebriation clear.

Ardiles smiled and ordered them a B-52, which the bartender prepared with the utmost care and then lit the two shots on fire. Lisbon looked amused at the spectacle and put the straw in her mouth to drink up the still burning liquor.

Ardiles watched her while he emptied his own glass. He found that he liked it when he entertained her. When they were done drinking, Lisbon looked at him enthusiastically.

"That was so cool!" she said. Ardiles smiled.

"See? I'm not cranky, I'm fun! I just have a lot of temperament, that's why I argue for a living" he said with a smile on his lips. A salsa-like song had started playing.

"Yeah, that's easy" Lisbon laughed. "Just blame it on your temperament!"

Ardiles gave her his broadest smile. "I can't help it, I'm just very passionate, it's my Cuban blood."

Lisbon looked at him and couldn't help but notice how handsome he was, with his exotic appearance.

"So, next to the temperament, does your blood also give you those Cuban dance moves?" she asked halve-mockingly.

Ardiles smiled mischievously and got up from his barstool. He stumbled a bit, only then noticing his tipsiness. He downed the last bit of the pink drink and walked over to where he had enough space to dance freely. The music was perfect for his moves and he made a complete show of it. His dancing was so good and his hips were so supple it impressed Lisbon immensely, while he didn't even danced anymore just to impress her, but because he enjoyed it so much himself.

They smiled at each other when Ardiles noticed her watching him with admiration. He made his way towards her and took her hand. Lisbon struggled a little at first, but Ardiles wouldn't have any of it. She stepped down from the barstool while Ardiles held her close so she wouldn't stumble like he had.

At first he held her hand in his and put his other hand on her waist. He swayed her around, remaining decent enough, but soon they both got so engrossed in their dance that Ardiles let his instincts take over. He put her hands behind his neck and moved in closer, putting his hands on her waist and swaying her body in rhythm with his. When he dipped her, she felt as if she walked straight into the Dirty Dancing 2 movie. He pulled her back up and pressed her close to him, their mouth were just inches apart. He twirled her around and moved so he came to dance behind her, holding one arm firmly over her stomach, while the other lifted her arm up and let it fall back behind his neck. He let his fingers slide down the inside of her arm and the soft skin from her armpit to the swell of her breast, all the while breathing softly in her neck. He swayed back to face her and smiled broadly when he noticed Lisbon letting loose and making use of her curves while she danced against him and looked down at her mouth.

Jane sat at the tip of the couch, watching the scene unfold in front of him in sheer frustration. He had wanted to go over there and stop this lunacy immediately, but he kept holding himself back. When he saw Ardiles press his knee slightly to the inside of Lisbon's thigh – a trick he knew from his womanizing days – he had enough. He made his way to the dance floor and when Ardiles swirled Lisbon so she moved away from him, Jane caught her in his arms and took over Ardiles' dance, with his one hand wrapped around hers, his other around her waist. Lisbon looked at him with a shocked expression.

"JANE! What did I tell you about not sneaking up to people! What are you doing here?" she screamed, but instinctively put her free hand to his chest and continued to dance with him. Suddenly, Jane was at a loss for words. He smiled charmingly and shrugged, hoping his smile would decrease her anger.

"I wanted to spent some time with you outside of work…" he told her honestly. Lisbon didn't catch the depth of his statement.

"Jane, what are you doing here?" she asked again, getting frustrated. Jane nodded towards Ardiles, who was sitting at the bar, watching them.

"I figured you could use some help getting away from him. Well, don't worry, I came to rescue you. Let's leave now, you could say I came to find you because something important had come up at work…" he said happily. Lisbon figured out what was going and got pissed.

"You _followed_ us here? What's wrong with you? How many times have I told you not to interfere with my…", she hesitated, not wanting to bluntly say '_sex_ life' in this context, "… _personal _life!" she told him while she stopped dancing and angrily pushed him away from her. She pretended she didn't catch the hurt look in Jane's eyes, but it cut through her like a knife. Still, she was having a great time with Ardiles, she was finally being able to relax a little… She wasn't going to let this night get ruined by Jane and Ardiles fighting non-stop.

She turned away from him and walked up to where Ardiles was standing. Jane felt the hurt and other painful feelings spread through his body when he watched her walk away. He felt so helpless, knowing he was losing Lisbon but only being able to do the things that made matters worse. He kept watching her while she started to apologize to Ardiles, who looked in his direction once again, before focusing all his attention on Lisbon. Jane would have kept staring at her all night, had he not been shaken rudely from his reverie by a guy that was dancing too wild. Suddenly, Jane noticed the sharp contrast between his wistful mood and the loud, obnoxious, sexually tinted music that was playing. Without further delay, he turned around and left the building.

* * *

><p>Lisbon walked over to Ardiles, who gave her a meaningful look. Lisbon feared the damage had already been done and that instead of having fun she would have to listen to him complain about Jane all night.<p>

"I'm _so _sorry about that…" Lisbon said, already starting the apologizes. Much to her relief, Ardiles didn't seem to want to spend much attention on the matter.

"Well, it's not your fault. Good thing you're not dating him, what a clown…" he commented while he watched Jane stare at them, looking kind of lost.

"Well, anyway," he said, focusing all his attention on her again, "let's have another drink, shall we?" and he asked the bartender for two more tequila shots, knowing it was her favorite.

Lisbon went to sit back at a barstool while Ardiles leaned his back nonchalantly against the bar. Lisbon smiled when she noticed he couldn't keep his body and feet from dancing secretly.

"In case I forget to thank you later, I'm having a really great time…" she told him honestly. She couldn't help but notice how he started to blush every time she was being genuinely nice to him and as she expected he responded with a joke.

"Yeah, well, don't thank me; thank Wainwright. He's the one that came up with this, I'm just hoping to do right by his plan…" he laughed without looking at her.

Lisbon laughed because she thought of how content Wainwright had seemed after he told them they were going to be working together.

"I don't know if this is what he was aiming for when he said we had to improve our _working_ relationship…" she laughed while she sipped from the Mojito she had ordered them.

Ardiles turned to face her.

"It could as well be, I honestly have _no clue_ as to what he was aiming for then. What was up with how he handled my complaint anyway? '_Workshadowing_?' Who does something like that?"

Lisbon grinned.

"Oscar, the guy is younger than me, and he's my _boss_. He's smart. He probably thought your endless complaining was starting to get annoying and managed to get you of his back and at the same time make a fool out of you, without you even knowing" she laughed.

Ardiles frowned.

"No way. I agree that he's young, but he's not smart… He's naïve!" he exclaimed.

Lisbon shrugged.

"I think it was tactful."

Ardiles smiled.

"Come on, Teresa, think about how he looked when he told us what his solution was. I've never seen anyone so _bubbly_! He was so enthusiastic, he nearly broke into a song."

Lisbon laughed and nearly spilled her drink. Ardiles chuckled. They were both starting to get quite drunk but they had no intention of going home anytime soon, because they were enjoying themselves and each other way too much.

After they had been quiet for a while, Ardiles suddenly looked down at Lisbon again. His vision wasn't as clear as before, but he still enjoyed the sight of her immensely. When she looked him in the eye, he didn't look away.

"So… if you're not dating Jane, surely there must be someone else in your life…" he semi-asked while his dark eyes were fixed on her.

Now she did look away.

"No…," she tried to say as casually as possible, "no, there isn't."

Ardiles still hadn't looked away.

"I find that very hard to believe" he told her, his speech slightly slurred. He blinked considerably slower than normal, all effects of the alcohol.

Lisbon smiled slightly.

"Well, it's true" she stated. "How about you?" she asked to divert the attention from her.

Ardiles turned around and went to sit on a barstool as well.

"Nah, no-one" he said while he stared at the empty space in front of him. Lisbon briefly looked sideways at him.

"How come?" she asked.

He looked at her. "Well, my first experiences with family weren't too great… You know, parents and stuff" he told her. "With family, in the end, either they're going to let you down or you're going to let them down, so… You?" he asked her, still looking at her.

"Same…" she answered truthfully.

They sat there for a while, looking at each other in silence. Eventually, Ardiles broke the stare and got up from the barstool. He grabbed Lisbon's hand and guided her with him to the dance floor. He started with twirling her around a couple of times before pulling her towards him so she landed against his chest.

The music was still salsa-like, but the DJ was slowly starting to mix it with more club music. Ardiles put one arm around her waist and put his other hand on the outside of Lisbon's thigh while they danced. She surrendered to his dancing considerably faster than before and dared to dance freely. He pressed his hips against hers and let his hands wander over her back until they reach her bare shoulders. He let them glide one by one down her arms to hold her hands and twirled her round and back. Lisbon saw the broad smile that had formed on his face from dancing and smiled the same smile back at him. He pulled her close again and put his forehead against hers. Just when things started to get really heated between them, the salsa music had ended. Ardiles grabbed her hands, that she had put loosely behind his neck, to hold them there. Their foreheads were still touching and when he opened his eyes to look at her he saw her smiling broadly. She stepped back and he let go of her hands. Lisbon knew the song and automatically started to dance on her own, something that amused Ardiles greatly. He leaned against the stage in the middle of the dance floor, where people were dancing on. Lisbon watched him watching her while she danced like she normally only did in the privacy of her home. Ardiles laughed out loud when she threw her arms up in the air and started to sing to the music as well. She spun around a couple of times while she danced towards him. His smile got broader when she neared him and they laughed out loud when she grabbed his tie and pulled him towards her. He complied willingly and danced with her. Even though she wasn't in his arms anymore, they were still extremely close. Ardiles showed her his amazing dance moves again, his feet moving faster than she had ever seen before.

Normally, nothing could compare to how much he enjoyed dancing, but tonight, he enjoyed watching Lisbon even more. They danced with so much passion that they completely forgot the world around them. Every now and then they would go over to the bar and order them something to drink, which only added to the party. Soon, Ardiles got so hot he took of his jacket and put it behind the bar. The bartender asked him if he wanted to order them another drink. Ardiles saw Lisbon dancing rather seductively and figured this night had to be celebrated properly.

"Yeah," he slurred, "I would like to order a bottle of champagne!" he said and smiled happily. The bartender handed him the bottle and two glasses. Ardiles looked at it and back at Lisbon.

"Teresa!" he shouted over the music. She looked up at him and he held the bottle of champagne in the air. Lisbon laughed and came over to him.

He shook the bottle firmly and when Lisbon stood next to him, he uncorked it and sprayed the champagne in front of them. Lisbon filled their glasses and handed him one, but he was already sipping from the bottle. He put his arm around her shoulders and held the bottle to her mouth. She had to laugh so hard she was barely able to swallow the champagne. They put the glasses and bottle back on the bar and went to dance again.

They danced even closer than before, never seeming to let an inch of space between them. Ardiles had long put his arms around her again and she put her arms around his neck. Their faces were just inches apart and they were singing the lyrics to the songs to each other, flirting obviously. Sometimes, they would laugh so hard they had to stop dancing to avoid stumbling and sometimes, they would look extremely serious when they became aware of the heat between them. Their dancing had become very sexy and they were completely wrapped up in each other. They had entirely forgotten who they were. When Ardiles was dancing behind her and a Pitbull song came on, he sung an rapped all the lyrics in her ear, including the Spanish parts, which would cause Lisbon to bite her lip. The played secretly with each other's bodies and tried to see how far they dared to take it and how far the other would let it. Ardiles had put his tie around Lisbon's neck, and used it frequently to pull her close to him. He had unbuttoned half of his buttons because he felt hot again and now his chest was largely showing. Their impressive and sexy dancing attracted quite some attention and amazement from the other people on the floor. Sometimes, Lisbon would teasingly walk away from him to dance alone so Ardiles had to watch from a distance. Soon, though, other men would start to dance with her and Ardiles would walk up resolutely and push them away.

After a while, Ardiles had brought the bottle of champagne so they wouldn't have to leave the dance floor all the time to get something to drink. They were just standing still on the dance floor feeling slightly light-headed. They were so drunk they couldn't walk or think straight anymore and all they knew was how much they liked how they felt at that moment. They smiled like two fools at each other and sipped from the bottle in turns. Suddenly, Ardiles grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs to the stage. There was enough room for them and when the crowd noticed they were up there, they had quite a few viewers. Lisbon started to get a little shy, but Ardiles didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, when Jason Derulo's 'It Girl' came on, he gave away a whole show serenading her, using the champagne bottle as a microphone. At first, Lisbon felt extremely embarrassed and shy and wanted to leave as soon as possible, but when he started to dance with that amazing body of his, showing those awesome moves she decided to watch little longer. When he turned to her she had to laugh at how ridiculous he was overacting. He didn't even know all the lyrics, but as soon as the chorus came, he sung on the top of his longs. After he was done the crowd applauded him.

"Thank you! Thank you! This girl," he shouted to the crowd while he pulled Lisbon close to him, "has made my case today!" he continued, slurring every syllable, so no-one understood a word of what he was saying except for Lisbon, who laughed because she thought it was a little over-the-top to serenade everyone that helped him win a case.

They left the stage to drop off the empty champagne bottle. Ardiles tapped at the bartender's shoulder. He turned to him.

"I would like to… eh… order something... eh… to drink" Ardiles stated, working hard to keep from falling. The bartender smiled and looked at Lisbon, who leaned over the bar looking at him with drooping eyelids.

"I'm sorry guys, but I think you've had enough for tonight. You asked me yourself. Otherwise you'll regret it at work tomorrow" he said.

Ardiles snorted. "_Now_ you come with that! It's a little late for that intervention, don't you think?" he laughed. The bartender just shrugged.

"You want me to call you a cab?" he asked.

Lisbon shook her head. As soon as the bartender reminded her of what she had asked him and that they had to be at work tomorrow, she snapped out of the dream world she had been living in this night. Suddenly, she felt that she was blushing when she thought about how she had danced with Ardiles.

"No, that's o.k.," she told the bartender, "we'll call one outside and wait for it there."

He shrugged. Ardiles didn't want to go yet and decided that he should try to convince the bartender while he paid their bill.

"No, no. We don't need to call a cab because we don't need to go home yet. We'll know when we've had enough. See, we're cops. Agents. From the C-" he said as slowly as he could so the bartender would understand what he was saying, but Lisbon cut him off as soon as he wanted to mention the CBI and accidently discredit them even more than he had already done.

"No, we're not agents. We're lawyers, remember?" she said to Ardiles who had grabbed his jacket from behind the bar.

"Come on, let's go" she told him after and turned him around. When she put her hand on his back to usher him outside, he laughed and shouted that the entire club was under arrest. Lisbon sighed.

When they stood outside and the peep in her ears had subsided a little, she called them a cab.

They had to wait a little while. The fresh air had seemed to sober him up a little as well. They stood next to each other, facing in the road in front of them, not knowing what to do or to say. After a while, Ardiles dared to look at her from the corner of his eye. Even though it was a hot summer night, he noticed Lisbon had small goose bumps on her bare arms.

"Are you cold?" Ardiles asked.

"No" Lisbon answered.

"Yes you are" he stated while he moved behind her and helped her into his jacket. She smiled shyly at the romantic gesture.

Ardiles felt the tension as well and decided to put a little space between them by walking around a bit. Every now and then he would dance a little to his own rhythm or a salsa song in his head. At first, Lisbon barely noticed it; it was just one dance step between normal steps. But soon, he got so wrapped up in the music in his head or body, he couldn't walk normal anymore and instead danced around her. He was completely in his own little world, with the smile of a merry drunk on his lips. Lisbon tried hard not to laugh out loud, so he wouldn't feel embarrassed, but she couldn't hold back a chuckle any longer. Ardiles turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry, go on" Lisbon said sincerely when he scratched the back of his head while he smiled shyly. He didn't dare to look at her when he walked back to where she was standing and Lisbon wished she hadn't laughed.

When he reached her though, instead of going to stand next to her again, he grabbed her hands and slowly started to dance with her again. He chose a much slower rhythm than the music inside had been and guided her so she would start to feel the music in his head to which he was dancing. Never before had anyone been so gentle with her. His hands had sneaked underneath the jacket and his fingers were gliding ever so slightly over the bare skin of her back leaving a trail of goose bumps. When she put her arms around his neck, he pulled her so close that their heads were on each other's shoulders.

While they danced, Lisbon couldn't imagine why this man was still single. She thought about the short conversation they had on the matter. She had wanted to ask more, but hadn't dared to. But now, so many drinks later, she suddenly found the courage.

"Oscar?" she asked while he turned her round and back.

"Hm?" he responded.

"What did you mean when you said your first experiences with family weren't good?"

Ardiles stayed silent for a while and let his hands glide down to her hips and felt her body moving. He grabbed her hands and took a step back, creating space between them while he watched her feet and body moving so freely and loosely, like she had been doing it her entire life.

Due to the buzz and the drowsiness in her head and the relaxing sensation of dancing so freely, she nearly forgot she had asked a question. Only when he pulled her back to him with an urge she hadn't expected, she remembered he had yet to answer.

He held her right hand in his left, while his other arm nearly completely enveloped her slim waist. His dark eyes stared deeply into hers and his face showed a seriousness that contrasted sharply with the light mood he had been in tonight. Lisbon didn't know what to do or say and wished she hadn't asked anything.

Ardiles continued dancing. While his eyes showed an overwhelming intensity, the movements of his body were gentle and lighthearted.

"My parents left me. I was eight" Ardiles suddenly said.

He twirled her around slowly.

"They had been planning it for years, my grandma told me later" he continued while he kept dancing like nothing was going on.

He stayed silent for a while. Lisbon didn't know what to make of it. He watched their dancing feet and their swaying hips, the joined hands above her head when he twirled her around, but he didn't look her in the eye anymore.

Eventually, he briefly looked at her.

"I never saw it coming though. One day, they were just gone. They left me with my grandmother, she took good care of me from then on. I knew things weren't going so well in Cuba, with Castro… And we weren't very rich, so they wanted to build a better life in the US. They took the risk, but without me" he told her. Suddenly, he started rambling about everything that had happened.

"My grandmother tried to explain it to me, that they hadn't want to take me, because of the risks. They could die at sea, they could be imprisoned in the US or sent back to Cuba and be imprisoned there. Even if they made it to the US, there would be nothing waiting for them. They didn't want to bring a child to that, which I understand now, but back then, I just wished they hadn't left, or had taken me with them."

Even though he slurred every word and his story was a little inarticulate at times, it was full of raw emotion, and Lisbon completely understood him. Her hand sneaked from his chest to behind his neck. Ardiles got the hint and let go of her other hand. He placed both his arms around her waist while Lisbon let her fingers stroke absent-minded over the hair on the back of his head and the skin of his neck.

"A few years later, I was ten, nearly eleven, they sent me money and a fake passport. I was just grown accustomed to my life without them on Cuba. I had my friends there, my grandmother, my school… my life" he said while he dipped her and slowly pulled her back to him.

"I was doing very well with dancing and wanted to become a professional dancer after school… My grandmother had been so good to me, and now I had to leave all that behind for something I didn't even want. For people who had left me..!"

He moved around her so he came to dance behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she covered them with her own.

"When I arrived in California, my parents already had jobs and a house and friends. I had to go to a new school, learn a new language, make new friends while all the boys mocked me because I liked to dance… Eventually, I started to like it here and when I grew older I understood that we were better of living in the US, but I remained a little home sick. My parents told me to forget the way I was living in Cuba and build a new life here. I understood that I wasn't going to be a professional dancer, so I became a lawyer instead."

They danced like that for a while in silence. The intimacy of the situation was undeniable, but Lisbon knew they could later write it down to their drunkenness so she let it be.

"So, what about your story?" Ardiles asked her. Lisbon stepped out of his embrace and stopped dancing. Ardiles did too and looked at her with a bewildered expression. She opened her mouth to say something but didn't know what so she closed it again and stared at the ground.

"My mother was killed in a car accident when I was twelve. My father couldn't deal with it and started drinking… I took care for myself and my younger brothers after that" she stated as impassive as possible. Ardiles looked at her and saw that she didn't want to dwell on it. They stood next to each other once again, watching the road in front of them, like they had nearly thirty minutes ago.

"Well, I don't think a cab will come anytime soon. Let's go inside again and party some more" Ardiles said after a few minutes, grabbing Lisbon's hand. With his lawyer skills he just might have persuaded her if the cab hadn't appeared from the corner right at that moment. Ardiles sighed disappointed. Lisbon turned around and dragged him along to the car.

When they were both seated the driver asked them where to go. They looked at each other. Lisbon knew it was the alcohol thinking, but she couldn't shake the idea of Ardiles actually_ being_ Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street and she figured that the only way to find out was to see if he actually did live in a dustbin.

"Let's go by your place first" she tried to say casually.

Ardiles looked at her with raised eyebrows while he leaned his head against the head rest. "No way! I'm not letting you think you're the toughest because you're the agent who has to escort the civilian to the safety of his home. We'll stop at your place first" he stated. Lisbon laughed.

"So you'll feel like the gentleman that escorted the damsel to the safety of her home, right?" she teased him. He smiled.

"Yes, that's right. I wouldn't sleep tonight if I weren't sure you got home safely, that's what a gentleman I am!" he said proudly. Lisbon leaned her head against the head rest as well and looked him in the eye while he smiled.

"Yeah right, what a bullshit" she laughed. "You even _told_ me you hate my guts, remember?"

He didn't respond but smiled and kept looking into her eyes. Their broad, teasing smiles got smaller and transformed into content ones. The air was warm around them and their faces were just inches apart. Lisbon saw Ardiles' gaze alternate between her eyes and her lips and noticed that she let her gaze wander to his lips as well...

"Excuse me, but I need to know the address" the cab driver interrupted them.

They both looked away and started to blush. Lisbon told the driver her address and kept looking straight ahead.

The rest of the ride was silent, except for the soft music playing from the radio. When they reached Lisbon's house, Ardiles walked with her to the door. They both looked down. Lisbon decided against asking him in for 'a cup of coffee', and she told herself it was because they were too drunk and things would get weird at work, but in truth it was mainly because she couldn't forget the look on Jane's face when she told him to leave that night.

They both smiled when they finally dared to look at each other.

"Well, thank you for tonight. I had a great time" Lisbon said.  
>"Yeah, no problem. Thank you for making it such a great time. We should definitely do it again sometime" Ardiles responded.<p>

"Yeah, although I'm not sure if we'll still feel like that tomorrow" she laughed, already feeling a major hangover coming up.

Ardiles laughed and hoped she would go out with him again soon.

Lisbon remembered she was still wearing half Ardiles outfit. She handed him his jacket and hung his tie around his neck again. Once more they were standing so close they could feel each other's body heat and when they looked in each other's eyes they knew that this would be their last chance tonight to give in to those new feelings. But they didn't.

"Goodnight" Lisbon nearly whispered.

Ardiles smiled. "Goodnight, Teresa" he said while he took a few steps back.

"See you tomorrow?" Lisbon asked when she had unlocked her door.

"Definitely" he told her and after a final "bye" from both he walked back to the cab.


	8. Chapter 8

Distracted Chapter Eight

The next morning, Lisbon found herself sitting behind her desk, trying to get herself together or at least trying to _appear_ as if she got herself together. She sat – more like _hung –_ in her chair, her arms hanging down beside her, her head wobbly on her neck, falling to her shoulders or chest every few minutes from falling asleep; she looked every bit like a rag doll. She stared tiredly in front of her, her vision still blurred and her eyelids heavy. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this bad. Sure, she managed to get to work in time, but the alcohol on her breath and the bloodshot eyes – amongst other things – betrayed her state. She had known last night was going to result in a major hangover, but she hadn't prepared herself for this. From the moment her alarm went off, she had cursed herself for drinking _so many different, strong _drinks. She had felt like staying home for a week to let this hangover wear off, but she knew she had a case to work and didn't want her unprofessional behavior to cause for the team to work on their own. She knew she had to pay the piper, so she had dragged herself to the cab she had called. Her car had still been parked at the CBI building, but even if it had been home, she wouldn't have felt like driving to work anyway. Her head had been pounding like crazy and her stomach had been doing flip-flops and honestly she had felt like she was still a bit drunk. She had still felt that way when she walked up to her office that morning, and she still felt like that when she went to sit behind her desk, while trying to get herself together or at least trying to _appear _as if she got herself together.

It wasn't working yet. The pounding in her head got increasingly worse when she tried to focus on something to clear the blur from her eyes and the waves of nausea caused her to sweat even more than the ridiculously hot sun already did. Her entire body longed for some sleep and her gaze drifted to the couch. But she knew she couldn't… She shouldn't… She should compose herself and start working and when Jane would come down from his attic she would discuss with him and the rest of the team what the plans were for the rest of the day. She sighed and tried again to seem like the in-control, tough agent she usually was. Just when she was about to give up, she heard footsteps coming her way. Quickly, she grabbed the first file she saw and pretended to read it. When her door swung open, she looked up, making sure her mouth was closed to prevent the smell of alcohol from making its way to the visitor's nose. But even before she saw who it was, she smelled alcohol coming from the person standing in her doorway, looking sharp like the forgotten third member of the Men In Black.

Ardiles was wearing an expensive looking, tailored black suit, shining black shoes and a matching black belt, a black tie with underneath a smoothed, crisp white shirt that seemed so bright to Lisbon that looking at it made her headache even worse. To top it all off, he was holding a black briefcase and his eyes were hidden behind black aviators. Lisbon couldn't understand how someone could be so sharp after drinking so much and feared she was going to have to admit that he really was tougher than her.

But when he shut the door behind him just a little too loud, Lisbon noticed she wasn't the only one who winced. Ardiles walked over to her couch, dropped down and let his head fall back on top of the soft cushion. For a while, he just lay there, breathing loudly. Lisbon didn't know what to do or say and now the alcohol had started to wear off a little, she felt a little embarrassed when she thought about the way they had danced the night before.

Eventually, she cleared her throat, which hurt more than she had expected, to get his attention. He lifted his head back up and set his briefcase down. When he took off his sunglasses, he looked absolutely miserable. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was so pale that his exotic look had nearly gone. Underneath his eyes were so many black circles and bags that you nearly couldn't tell the difference between his black eye and the other. They both looked bewildered at each other's appearance.

"Hey" Ardiles said eventually, so hoarse it was barely audible. This caused Lisbon to smile a little, but she immediately felt her headache increasing. She grabbed her head with her hand and winced. Ardiles laughed about it, but his laughter soon transformed into a coughing fit. They sighed simultaneously.

"How are you?" Lisbon asked, sounding almost as hoarse as Ardiles.

He raised an eyebrow and threw her a look that said "_seriously_?".

"When I got home, I figured it would be wise to drink a glass of water, so I wouldn't have such a headache in the morning. As soon as I swallowed the first slug, I felt my stomach turn inside out… I have been throwing up all night, I haven't slept, I haven't had anything to eat, I feel dizzy and weak, my throat hurts and the worst part is that I'm still dying from the headache" Ardiles managed to say with a cracking voice.

Lisbon leaned back in her chair.

"Yesterday, I fell asleep as soon as I got in range of my bed – still wearing my dress, which is now completely wrinkled. When I woke to the sound of my alarm, everything hurt, because of the uncomfortable position in which I've slept. My head feels like it's going to explode any minute… Actually my stomach does too. With the exception of my stomach, I feel like I'm completely stuffed with cotton wool. My stomach is making sounds I've never heard it make before. All morning, I've felt like I'm going to throw up any minute and I just know it's going to happen when I'm in front of everyone in the office... But at least then I won't feel so nauseous anymore…" she told him.

They remained silent after that for a while, too tired and sick to do anything else than just sit. Ardiles turned his head so he was watching Lisbon and Lisbon knew it but didn't dare to ask about it.

"We did have a great time though yesterday, didn't we?" he asked eventually with a small, tired smile on his lips.

Lisbon immediately felt the blush spread from her chest to her face. "Yeah, it really was fun…" she admitted while she looked down shyly.

Ardiles became a little shy as well so he decided to change the subject.

"I have no idea how we're going to get through this day..!" he sighed.

Lisbon sighed as well. "Tell me about it, Jane says we're on the verge of breaking this case, but I don't know how I'm going to handle it if there's any running involved in catching the killer."

Ardiles winced when she mentioned the word 'running' and closed his eyes.

"Well, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to hide here in your office all day and move as less as possible. I told the people at my office not to bother me because I have important work to do with you" Ardiles told her and crossed his arms over his chest.

Lisbon smiled a little. "I told you we were going to regret this in the morning" she said.

Ardiles opened his eyes again and smiled. "Who says I'm regretting anything? Oh it is worth it already! I'd do it again any time!" he tried to say loudly but failed because of his hoarseness. He hung his head over de armrest of the couch to look at her.

"Are _you_ regretting it?" he asked.

Lisbon looked at him. "No" she said gently. "No, I don't. But you may want to rethink that position, because I swear, if you lay like this any longer, you are going to get a headache that will have you screaming in pain and I don't think people will still believe we are actually working."

Ardiles lifted his head back up so it could rest against the arm of the couch, while he winced in pain already.

"All worth it…" he repeated and Lisbon smiled.

They stayed silent for a while but eventually Lisbon couldn't resist anymore to ask the question that kept nagging her.

"So… Are you going to retrieve your complaint now?" she asked, assuming he would say yes.

Ardiles opened his eyes again but instead of looking at her, he looked to the floor.

"No, no, I wasn't planning on that" he said, knowing his answer would upset her.

Lisbon looked at him in disbelieve.

"What?!" she screamed angrily. "So you still think I'm incompetent and indifferent? You still think I function badly, I can't do my job well? Yesterday, you seemed to have a whole different opinion of me!" she yelled so loudly her throat hurt insanely bad and tears were prickling in her eyes. She told herself it was from the lack of sleep and the headache and nausea. She felt so angrily and tired and disappointed she could cry, but fought hard not to show Ardiles any of it.

Ardiles looked very briefly at her but when he saw how upset she was, he looked back down again.

"Can we keep business and private separate?" he sighed.

Lisbon jumped up from behind her desk angrily and walked over to stand right next to the couch. She was so glad she didn't sleep with him last night.

"Right, well, if we need to keep business and private separate, we either should get to work if you want to stay here, or else you should leave my office right now!"

Ardiles had popped himself into a sitting position, his hands placed next to him on the couch to keep him sitting straight. He looked at her eyes that seemed to be on fire while his felt like either crying or falling shut anytime.

"No, come on, don't be like that..!" he pleaded while he grabbed her hand and pulled her down to sit beside him. "Okay, alright, I will retrieve the complaint… Geez, I didn't know you hated working with me _so _much…" he joked while he looked at their joined hands.

Lisbon looked from their hands to his face to their hands again, not knowing how to respond. Her anger had subsided as quickly as it had come and now she felt a bit sorry for yelling at him like that. She couldn't help but think that he hadn't want to retrieve his complaint because he liked working with her. Still, she knew there was another reason why she'd been so upset when he told her he wouldn't retrieve his complaint. She had wanted to show him that she was worth something, she had wanted to impress him, but she hated the impression she was currently making; drinking so much in the middle of the work week, spending the day hung over at her office… That didn't look much like a good agent, but he didn't seem to mind. Eventually, he spoke up.

"Is it alright with you if I retrieve my complaint after we've solved the case?" he said while he looked at her. Lisbon suddenly felt at a loss of words when his dark brown eyes looked at her with such sadness. She nodded and then looked down, away from his gaze. They both sighed and leaned back at the backrest of the couch, soon closing their eyes and falling asleep.

* * *

><p>In the meantime, Jane had come down from his attic, not really bothering to straighten his clothes after sleeping, because he figured he would be lying down at Lisbon's couch soon. As he walked up to her office, he saw a man – <em>Ardiles<em>, presumably – in her office, lying down at _his_ couch. He walked up closer to the glass to peek through the blinds. Lisbon was standing next to the couch, looking upset. Before he knew it, Ardiles had grasped her hand and pulled her down close to him, holding her hand and clearly comforting her, because she seemed no longer upset. In just the tiniest moment, Jane experienced a whole range of feelings. First, he felt extremely possessive, then he felt a sting right through his heart, he felt intense anger pulsing through his veins, he felt betrayal, he felt sadness, he felt the need for revenge and then he put all that away and felt indifferent.

He walked over to the bullpen and cleared his throat to get the team's attention.

"Guys, we need to go to Fresno again today, I'm positively confident that we may solve this case very soon. There's just a few more things we need to do…"

Rigsby and Van Pelt looked at each other, Cho just kept staring at Jane.

"Does Lisbon know about this?" he asked him.

"Off course, I've been over it with her this morning and she says okay" he lied.

Cho didn't show whether he believed it or not. "Why isn't she coming then?" he asked stoically.

Jane sighed annoyed and made a throwing gesture. "She's going to be busy with her new best friend Ardiles all day. Let's just go and prepare everything for the catch and then when it's time to make the bust we'll call her. She won't mind if we take some work off her hands" he concluded.

Cho didn't seem to be completely convinced, but said 'okay' anyway.

Jane smiled his signature smile. "Great, let's get going then!"

"What exactly _are_ we going to do?" Rigsby asked while they walked to the elevator.

Jane looked at him. "I'll explain it when we get there" he told him.

* * *

><p>When they were on the road, everyone noticed that Jane was unusually solemn. Van Pelt decided to lift the mood in the car a bit.<p>

"Did you guys know that the boss went out drinking with Ardiles yesterday?" she said.

"No way!" Risgby said, amusement on his face.

"Yeah, and they looked pretty hung over this morning, so it must have been quite a night..!"

"Oh my God, can you believe that?" Rigsby said cheerful.

"I wouldn't want to spend any time with him outside of work even for a million bucks" Cho stated.

"Can you imagine the boss and him having a good time and drinking together" Rigsby said, while Jane wished he would stop seeing those moments of them together at that club yesterday.

"I think he has a thing for the boss…" Van Pelt said.

"Well, there's one thing that's not going to happen" Cho stated decisively.

Rigsby thought about it for a second.

"Nah, he's not my favorite either, but I don't know, I think it would be good for her if she found someone she could have fun with, someone to fall back on."

Jane couldn't stand it any longer.

"Seriously?! You think she would be better off with him?! The guy's a nightmare and… a loser! She's not _that_ desperate, surely..!"

Everyone was a little stunned by Jane's sudden outburst.

"Oh-kay…" Van Pelt said after a while to break the silence.

Jane felt embarrassed that he had shown his emotions on this subject so clearly, so he decided to change the subject.

"So, about what were going to do in Fresno. Martin Philips is somewhat the leader of the neighborhood, right? So he must know things, especially since everyone around there gossips about everything. I'm betting they haven't even told us half of what they know. So, instead of that working against us, I have a plan that will make use of it..." he said and waited a moment to build up the tension.

"Before Philips, Moore and Scott posted bail, I went to talk to them, get to know them a little, form a bond. I'm betting that if we tell Philips now that we're almost ready to make an arrest and that it is whom he suspects, he'll want to take matters in his own hands and lead us straight to the killer!" he concluded happily.

The rest of the team exchanged worried looks.

"Jane, we can't do that, what if people get hurt? What if he goes to the wrong guy?" Van Pelt asked.

"Nah, won't happen, he knows more than we and he will be able to piece the information together once we've given him a final nudge. Besides, we'll tell him that our suspect will be in custody for the night, so there is no reason for him to go up to his suspect yet. And you guys will be staying outside his house tonight to make sure he won't already go to his suspect. Then tomorrow, we will come driving by in our police cars and wait for him to go."

"Okay, but what if he doesn't go at all?" Van Pelt asked.

"Well, in that case my plan failed and you can mock me for that if you want, but it won't have done any harm" Jane countered.

The three team members sighed.

"And Lisbon knows about all this?" Cho asked in disbelieve.

Jane acted as if they were discussing trivialities.

"Well, the big lines, anyway… But we'll fill her in with the details tonight, once we know how everything went…"

Rigsby sighed again.

"Okay, we'll give it a try. But I'm only going along because I don't want to disturb the boss while she's with Ardiles" he smiled teasingly, looking in the rear mirror to catch Jane's face and get a deadly glare in return.

* * *

><p>They drove up to Martin Philips' house and Jane decided to take Van Pelt with him, to show he was really doing him a favor.<p>

When they rang the bell, a woman opened up.

"Good afternoon ma'am, my name is Patrick Jane, this is my colleague Grace Van Pelt, we're with the CBI. Is Mr. Philips at home?"

Just when he asked, Martin Philips came walking up behind her.

"CBI? What are you guys doing here? Are you going to arrest me again?!" he asked, getting more and more upset.

"No, no, sir, it's nothing like that. We just came by to inform you of some progress we made on the case" Van Pelt said in her sweetest voice.

Philips' seemed to relax.

"Oh. Alright, in that case, come in. This is my wife, Susan, by the way" he told them and walked to the living room.

He motioned them to sit down and did so himself. Jane noticed that Susan being present while they were going to discuss Emily was nerving Martin.

"Eh, ma'am, it's been a long drive, would you mind terribly much to make me a cup of tea?" he asked her. She looked reluctant, but went anyway.

Martin threw him a thanking smile.

"So, what did you discover?" Martin asked.

Jane pulled a serious face, looking pensively to the ground.

"Sir, what I'm going to tell you, must remain between us. Officially, I'm not allowed to tell anyone about this yet, it could cost me my job. So it has to keep a secret, can you promise me that?" he asked while he looked at him with the most earnest look on his face.

Philips nodded seriously and a little nervously.

"Alright then. Now, I'm going to tell you this, because I find you a man like myself. Surely, we have our flaws, but we try to do the right thing, every day. And we stand up for ourselves and those we care for. I wouldn't feel like I was doing the right thing, if I would let you suffer for another day, not knowing whether Emily's killer would ever be caught. So, I came here to let you know, that we've almost surely found the murderer."

After Jane said this, they heard something drop in the kitchen. He exchanged looks with Van Pelt for a moment, but decided to continue.

"Our suspect is currently under our constant surveillance, but we're still waiting for the evidence reports to come back before we can really make an arrest. As soon as those are in, our people will be able to make the arrest within the minute..!" Jane said, trying to sound as much as a real cop as he could.

Philips was looking at him with big eyes and confusion written all over his face.

"Well, who is it?" he asked.

Jane smiled and shook his head.

"I'm afraid we can't share that information with you…"

Philips got annoyed.

"Ah come on!"

Jane looked doubtfully at Van Pelt, as if he was deliberating whether he should tell him some more or not. Eventually, he looked back at Philips with the same earnest look as before.

"I can't give you a name, I can only say that it's someone very close to you…" Jane said.

They heard another thing drop in the kitchen.

"Is everything alright in there, Mrs. Philips?" Van Pelt asked.

"Yes, everything's fine. I spilled the tea though" she answered.

"Oh, that's fine, we're done here anyway. Thank you" Jane told her.

Van Pelt and him stood up, followed by Philips, still trying to process all of this.

When they reached the front door, Philips grabbed Jane's shoulder.

"Tell me who it is, you have to tell me who it was that…" he trailed off, looking very upset.

Jane looked at the hand on his shoulder, which Philips removed quickly.

"Look, I can't give you a name, but this weekend, I promise, it will all be over" Jane told him reassuringly.

"No, no, you can't go. Give me a hint then, a hint is okay, right?" Philips asked him again, desperately.

Jane looked at him.

"It's who you're suspecting" he stated while he nodded affirmatively.

Philips looked confused.

"What do you mean? How do you know who I suspect?" he asked.

"That's what we hire him for" Van Pelt told him, while she and Jane started to walk away.

"How do you know it's who I suspect?" Philips yelled at them.

When they reached the car, Jane turned around to look at him.

"It was that weird manner of acting lately that made you suspicious…" he said, sounding very confident, before he entered the car.

They drove off and went to the local police station.

"So, what if it does turn out to be Martin himself?" Rigsby asked.

"Well, that's the beauty of this plan, if it's him, which I know for sure he isn't, he'll probably make sure he's gone before "the evidence" gets back. So if he runs, we know it's him" Jane told him plainly.

"But it's _not_ him, you say. So who is it then?" Cho asked.

"Van Pelt, what do you think?" Jane asked her, smiling.

Van Pelt looked confused at him, before realization set in.

"Well, if you think it's Mrs. Philips, you're wrong. She has an alibi, that was like the first thing we've covered.

"Yeah, well, that was indeed one of the first things you did, far before you got to know the works of this community" Jane said. "As it turns out, everyone has an alibi, provided by someone else. They've been lying and hiding things from us all the time, so someone must be lying about the alibi. This whole neighborhood could be guilty, for all I know."

Van Pelt looked displeased. "So, you _don't _think _we_ can find the killer, but you _do_ think _Martin Philips_ is the man for it?"

"He has the most information…"

"So was that why you told Mr. Philips our suspect was under surveillance instead of in our custody?"

"Yes, indeed, I have a strong feeling that Mrs. Philips could be a key player in this whole scheme, so it was necessary to make sure Mr. Philips knows we haven't ruled her out as a suspect…"

"So, what now?" Rigsby asked when they had parked in front of the Fresno police station.

"Now, we're going to split up. You guys will arrange an undercover car from the Fresno PD and drive back to Philips' house as quickly as you can. Van Pelt and I are going back to Sacramento to prepare for tomorrow. Call us when something happens.

Cho and Rigsby got out while Van Pelt whished them good luck before she and Jane drove back to Sacramento again.

* * *

><p>When they arrived, Jane decided to have a quick peek through the still closed blinds of Lisbon's office. Even though he vouched to himself not to care about it, he felt extremely bitter when he saw Lisbon and Ardiles together sound asleep on his couch. Without bothering to enter and tell her about today's events, he retreated to his attic to sulk.<p>

Lisbon woke by the feeling of someone looking at her. When there was no one to be seen through her office windows, she checked her watch. When it showed that it was already past three o'clock p.m. she nearly jumped up from the couch, only then realizing that there was still someone asleep beside her. She looked over to the sleeping form of Oscar Ardiles and decided she liked it better to let him sleep than to wake him. She got up from the couch quietly and went to the ladies room to freshen up. When she came back, she noticed two sleepy eyes slowly opening up to look at her. Ardiles blinked a couple of times to clear to sleep from his eyes and eventually smiled a little at her.

"So there you are. I wondered where you had taken off to" he told her with a content look on his face.

Lisbon smiled back at him and went to sit behind her desk.

"I just woke up a little before you, it's already past three, we've slept for most of the day..!"

"Really? Wow… I can't believe no one has come to disturb us…" Ardiles murmured, clearly meaning Jane.

Lisbon realized that was indeed strange. The longer she thought about it, the more anxious she got. This either meant Jane had been away all day, working their case and thereby giving cause for countless complaints, or it meant Jane _had _come into her office today and had spotted her and Ardiles together, which would be a disaster in itself… _or_ Jane had been unable to come to her because he was in danger.

Lisbon got up and made her way to her door.

"Hey where are you going so suddenly?" Ardiles asked.

"Getting an update on the case. You stay here, I'll be back soon" she told him, not wanting to show her worries about Jane.

Ardiles looked surprised at her sudden departure, but instead of asking her about it, he took off his jacket and folded it neatly over the backrest of the couch while putting his legs on the couch to make himself comfortable.

Lisbon went straight to the bullpen, expecting and hoping to find Jane there dozing on his couch. Instead, she only found Van Pelt.

"Where is everyone?" Lisbon asked.

Van Pelt saw the unhappy look on her boss's face.

"Eh, they're in Fresno, Cho and Rigsby, that is. But Jane said you knew about it, that you were okay with it..!" Van Pelt told her.

Lisbon looked even more annoyed.

"What? What is going on?" she asked confused.

"Well, Jane told us this morning to go to Fresno, because he felt that we could break the case any moment. That he just needed to do some quick things…" Van Pelt started to explain hastily.

Lisbon sighed.

"Well… what were those things?" she asked.

"Ehm, we went to Martin Philips, because Jane feels he will lead us to the killer. Jane told him we were about to make an arrest, but couldn't just yet, but that he wanted to let him know first, because it turned out to be the one Philips suspected…" Van Pelt told her, knowing full well that this sounded thin, even for Jane.

"Well, who did Philips suspect?" Lisbon asked.

"We don't know. Jane thinks it's his wife, Susan. But personally, I don't know… It all sounded so much better when Jane explained it…" Van Pelt said, getting more nervous with the second.

"How many times do I need to tell you not to let Jane manipulate you into doing something unprofessional?" Lisbon sighed frustrated. "Wait – What if Philips decides to go after his suspect right now?"

"We told him the suspect would be under constant surveillance, so he probably won't attack him when there are agents watching his every move. Besides, Cho and Rigsby are there shadowing him, making sure he won't do anything stupid… yet" Van Pelt said. "But boss, Jane told us that he went over the plan with you and that you said okay…" she added, to justify their actions. Lisbon gave her a meaningful look.

"Well, he lied. Where is he now?" she asked, already dreading the answer.

"I believe he went upstairs when we came back, haven't seen him since…" Van Pelt answered.

Relieved to hear he wasn't stuck in some Fresno prison or being kept hostage by the killer, she made her way to his attic, quickly feeling her relief getting replaced by anger. By the time she knocked on his door, she was so angry she felt like she might attack him. She was angry because he had gone completely behind her back, he had put the operation in danger, put her and the other team members' jobs in danger, he maybe even had put other people's lives in danger. She felt angry because he made her worried about him, while he clearly didn't give a damn about how she felt. And secretly she was still a little angry at him for spying on her night out with Ardiles.

When Jane opened up, Lisbon could immediately sense his mood by the darkness of his attic, the heaviness in the air and his distant attitude. He looked like he had been sleeping, but his weary eyes betrayed that he probably hadn't. Jane looked at her and gave her a sad, bitter smile before he turned around to walk in before her. He paused in the middle of the room. Though her anger had disappeared the moment she had seen the sadness in his eyes, his indifferent behavior made it return. She stomped in after him.

"Jane! What is going on?" she yelled.

He showed a bitter, disdainful smile while he looked at the ground.

"Nothing" he answered shortly.

Lisbon looked annoyed.

"What do you mean 'nothing'? What have you been doing all day?"

Jane looked at her.

"I've been working our case…" he stated, swallowing the words 'contrary to you'.

"So I've heard, yes! What were you thinking?! I can't believe you did this!" Lisbon yelled.

"Good God, woman, stop panicking. I have everything under control. Tomorrow, we'll catch the killer."

"Jane!" Lisbon screamed out desperately, begging for him to understand her point. "I know you do crazy things, and most of the time, I support you. I defend your stunts to everyone, putting my own job and reputation on the line. I work my ass off to fix the problems you make, because I believe we're a team. But this time you went too far! That 'plan' you've come up with, it's filled with flaws! You've put everyone, this whole operation in danger! I can't believe you actually did this..!"

"It's a plan!" Jane shouted back at her. "And it'll work. Without my help you would never catch this killer, so instead of yelling at me, show a little gratefulness!"

"Gratefulness?! For what?! I'm just glad if there aren't any casualties tomorrow! This 'plan' of yours is dangerous and far-fetched, even for you, and I would have never approved it if you had told me about it. But you went completely behind my back! This is unacceptable, Jane!" Lisbon yelled.

"Yes! Because you were too busy with Ardiles… I just tried to get some work off your hands!" Jane said.

"Oh cut it out already! If you really wanted to help me you wouldn't have made such a mess today! How am I going to explain to Ardiles that you went behind my back, doing just as you please, not giving one crap about the rules, putting everyone's lives in danger?" Lisbon nearly cried with frustration. "I have been trying so hard to show him that I'm a competent agent. That we're a competent team. I've worked so hard to prove to him that I… that _we_ are worth something. And all you've done is make matters worse! Do you have any idea what your stunts mean for him, how much extra work it costs him to make these cases stick?" Lisbon called out.

"I knew it was about him! You really shouldn't care so much about what he thinks about you! You've been sucking up to him since the moment he came to work with us and I think it's disgusting how hard you're trying to have him like you" Jane told her harshly, with bitterness in his voice.

"Jane, for the love of God, would you please get over that thing with Ardiles! I don't need your advice, I don't need your opinion. I want you to stop interfering with my personal life, only bad things can come out of that" she said sternly. She knew these words would hurt him and she told herself it was for their own good to say them, but nothing could have prepared her for that split second where she saw the hurt on his face before he collected himself again.

"Just, do your job with some regard to the rules, please…" she sighed, suddenly finding it too hard to yell at him anymore.

"So that's what this is all about, you're still mad at me about yesterday…" Jane said calmly, referring to him following her and Ardiles.

Lisbon looked at him.

"No, this is about you doing irresponsible things behind my back. But if you must know, yes, I'm still a little angry about that" she told him.

Lisbon looked at Jane, waiting for him to offer an explanation. When he looked away and stayed silent, she decided to ask him about it.

"What _was_ that all about? Why were you following us?" she asked.

Jane looked at her with the same expression he had yesterday on the dance floor when he stole her from Ardiles.

"I just… I just _really_ don't like Ardiles…" he told her, feeling extremely unequipped to put his thoughts into words at that particular moment.

Lisbon rolled her eyes and felt her patience decreasing rapidly.

"Jane, you really _have_ to get over your problem with him!" she shouted.

"Yeah, well, that's not going to happen, is it, Teresa?!" he shouted, suddenly unable to keep his emotions under control. "You know full well that he won't get over his problem with me and that I can't get over my problem with him as long as you…" he trailed off when he heard his voice crack.

"Besides, I wasn't finished! So I really don't like Ardiles… But I really do like you. I was there for _you_…" he told her, looking her in the eyes to make sure she understood what he meant. "I meant what I said" he said softly, all the anger gone.

Lisbon had felt her emotions taking over from the moment he had used her first name and knew from experience that when he acted like this, all sweet and vulnerable, she was completely at his mercy. Her heart beat like crazy and right then there was nothing she wanted to do more than to touch him. She kept looking him in his eyes as if their eye contact was their only lifeline. Jane saw the change in her emotions and could read the confusion from her face.

"What?" she asked confused.

Jane suddenly felt insecure and uncharacteristically shy. He looked at his feet.

"I do want to spend more time with you outside of work…" he told her honestly and looked back up to see her reaction.

Lisbon didn't know how to respond. She looked questioningly at him, unsure of what he meant.

Jane noticed it, but just couldn't say more than that. He looked pleadingly at her, asking her to be patient with him. Asking her to wait for him to be ready, without running off with some other guy. Both their looks were filled with longing and the air was thick with tension. Lisbon knew that if he would touch her with even a finger she wouldn't be able to resist kissing him anymore. But both of them knew they wouldn't do anything about this moment. When Lisbon realized Jane wouldn't make his move, she averted her eyes, breaking their spell. Jane followed her gaze, feverishly trying to come up with something he could do to get the moment back. Every day he felt like he was losing her more and more, but there was nothing he could do about it and he hated himself for that.

After standing like that for a while, Lisbon turned around and left without saying another word.

Downstairs, she walked over to her office, her mood even worse than when she had woken up that morning. Ardiles was again sound asleep on her couch. Somehow, being in the same room as either him or Jane was just too much to bear for her at that moment, so she decided to go home and get a good night's rest. She went to talk to Van Pelt to discuss what was going to happen the next morning and told her to call if anything happened. She called Cho and Rigsby to ask how everything was going and told them she would be there as soon as possible the next morning. Finally, she went back to her office to get her stuff. Only when she was ready to lock up did she wake Ardiles.

"Oscar… Oscar…" she whispered. He opened his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm going home. You should too, we have a big day tomorrow" she told him.

"Okay" he said while he got up from the couch and put his jacket back on. "So, did you find out what Jane has been up to all day?" he asked casually, but it made Lisbon nearly drop in her tracks. Exhausted from all the emotion and the constant battle she found herself in, she just couldn't find either the energy to fight with him or the decency to let it slide.

She looked annoyed at him with tired eyes.

"Why do you care? Just go home" she said.

Ardiles looked dismayed at her while she locked up but refrained from commenting. They walked out together in silence. Their ways parted when Ardiles decided he should stop by his office before he went home.

"See you tomorrow" he said and walked away.

"Yeah" Lisbon sighed to herself and made her way to her car to drive home and get some decent sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Distracted Chapter Nine:

Lisbon arrived at work the next morning at eight o'clock sharp, feeling so much better after sleeping for ten hours straight. While she waited for the others to arrive, she called Cho for an update.

"Boss" he answered his phone.

"Cho, hey, how's it going?" Lisbon asked.

"It's alright, Philips went out a couple of times yesterday, mostly the usual stuff – grocery shopping, that kind of thing. Around eight he went to his fight club though, but nothing happened, he worked out a little and went home at ten. Hasn't left the house since" Cho told her. Lisbon felt relieved that nothing had gone wrong – _yet_.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. We'll be coming your way soon and we'll discuss our next moves there. See you in a bit" she said while someone pushed her office door open.

"Okay, bye" Cho answered and they hung up.

Lisbon looked at the man standing in front of her desk, smiling down at her.

"I told you everything would work out fine" he said assertively, with his trademark smile on his face.

Lisbon didn't even bother to sigh quasi-annoyed at his arrogance, she was too surprised by his lighthearted mood. When she didn't respond, Jane continued happily while he walked around her office.

"So, are you excited for today? I am! It's one of those days where you can feel there's something big about to happen" he said.

Even though he seemed completely as usual, it didn't escape Lisbon that he normally would have lied down on her couch long ago.

"Yeah, well, we'll see. I'll share in your confidence once we've arrested the killer" Lisbon said, deciding to go along with his act as if nothing happened. Jane smiled back at her.

Lisbon got up from behind her desk and made her way to the bullpen, where she saw Van Pelt arriving.

"Hey" she greeted her.

"Good morning, boss" Van Pelt answered friendly.

"I just got off the phone with Cho, he said Philips is still in his house, he hasn't tried anything yet. I still don't trust it one bit though, so I'd like to get there as soon as possible. You ready to go?" she asked.

Van Pelt hesitated for a bit but quickly answered 'yes!', happy that she got to come as well, since she normally had to stay behind when they were all going.

"Great" Lisbon said while she started making her way back to her office. "Then we only have to wait for Ardiles" she said and when she turned around, she bumped right into him.

"Whoa, good morning" he greeted her, grasping her arms to steady her.

"Oh. Hey. Good morning" Lisbon said, a little embarrassed for bumping into him.

Jane had been watching the scene from just outside Lisbon's office and nearly threw his cup of tea down of frustration. He couldn't believe how every time Lisbon was around Ardiles it appeared as if they were in some romantic chick flick. Things like that didn't happen in real life, at least not so often, and if they did, why did they never involve _him_ instead of Ardiles?

He stopped his musings when Lisbon walked past him to get into her office and grab her stuff. Ardiles stood next to him, waiting for the agents to get ready, which of course caused an awkward silence. When Lisbon and Van Pelt joined them, they couldn't leave fast enough.

With every step they took towards the car, Lisbon and Van Pelt were dreading the upcoming arguing between Jane and Ardiles, about seating arrangements or anything else they could come up with. But it remained remarkably quiet. Suddenly, Jane left the group to walk to his own car. Lisbon looked surprised.

"Jane, what are you doing?" she asked a little nervous.

"Eh, I'm taking my own car" he replied casually.

Still not liking it one bit when he went all casual, Lisbon immediately went into a guarded state.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I need a discreet car once we get there" he told her.

Lisbon raised her eyebrows and looked over at the light blue Citroen before looking back at Jane. Jane got her point.

"Well, at least a car that doesn't scream 'cops'" he explained.

Lisbon had to give him that, his car looked anything but a police car. Still, she didn't like him driving there alone. She remembered the sad mood he had been in yesterday and the intense conversation they had, and ever since then, she had wanted nothing more than for him to make her feel as if she hadn't betrayed him. She _knew_ she hadn't betrayed him, in any way, but the fact remained that he had acted as if she had, and it made her feel terrible.

"No, Jane, you have to ride with us, tell us what your plan is" Lisbon nearly pleaded. Both Jane and Ardiles caught her tone, but neither of them responded to it.

"Don't you worry," Jane said while he turned around and walked to his car, "I'll tell you everything once we get there."

Lisbon knew he wasn't going to change his mind, but she hated for him to be alone.

"Alright. Van Pelt, you go with Jane. We'll take the SUV and meet you at the Fresno police station" Lisbon gave in eventually, expecting Jane to be satisfied, but when she said this, his head shot in her direction and displeasure was clear on his face.

"No, that's alright, I'll go by myself" he said but noticed he hadn't convinced Lisbon. "A little peace and quiet is just what I need" he concluded, but knew it just made his case worse.

Sure enough, Lisbon shook her head. "No, Jane, I want someone there with you" she said and heard that her voice had betrayed much more emotion than she had wanted to. "We all know you need the supervision" she added therefore casually.

Van Pelt walked over to Jane's car and was just close enough to hear him when he muttered "pfft, I think it's _you and Ardiles_ that need the supervision more…"

Instantly she knew why he hadn't want her to drive with him, but with the other two.

* * *

><p>When they were on the road, Lisbon noticed how silent Ardiles had been all day.<p>

"What's going on with you?" she asked him. He looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"You've barely said a word all day…" she said.

Ardiles looked in front of him and sighed.

"I've made it to get to work at a quarter past eight _on a Saturday_, don't expect me to be entertaining as well" he stated plainly.

"Okay" Lisbon answered quickly. "That's fine. As long as there's nothing wrong…" she said friendly and when he didn't answer she figured he just had a morning mood.

It stayed quiet after that for a while, but Ardiles stared at her from the corner of his eye and Lisbon knew it.

"Actually, there _is_ something" he said after a while and his tone betrayed that he was already blaming her for something. "What was that all about yesterday, when I asked if you'd figured out what Jane had been up to and you snapped at me in return?"

Lisbon should have known he wouldn't have let that one slide. If there was anything she had learned about him the past week, it was that despite his tough words, he was really a sensitive person. She sighed wishing she had responded more decently yesterday.

"Right. Yes, I'm sorry about that. I guess I was just very tired" she answered. Ardiles huffed.

"You had been tired the entire day, Teresa, but you only snapped at me when I asked about Jane…" he said, frustration clear in his voice.

Not planning on telling Ardiles about her intense conversation with Jane, she figured the only option left was to tell him about Jane's ridiculous plan.

"I was a little grumpy, because Jane had just told me about what he had been doing" she told him. Ardiles looked at her expectantly, his frustration not at all gone.

"Which was..?" he asked.

Lisbon looked at him briefly before looking back at the road again.

"I know you're not going to be happy about it, but neither was I, and you have to trust that I dealt with it adequately" she told him firmly.

"Ah _come on_, what has he done _now_?! I can't believe this!" Ardiles called out.

"I'm not going to tell you anything if you don't stay calm" Lisbon told him.

"Really?! I'm coming along to work with you on this apparently _awful_ plan, and you're not even going to tell me what it is?! That's insane!" he yelled. Lisbon stayed calm and quiet.

A few minutes later Ardiles spoke up again.

"Alright, I'll stay calm, tell me what he did" he said, trying hard to hide his frustration.

Lisbon sighed.

"Yesterday, he took the others to Fresno and went to talk to Martin Philips. He figures that since he is somewhat the leader of the neighborhood, he must know more about what's going on than the people are telling us. So he went to tell him that we've found the killer, but couldn't make an arrest just yet. Jane told him that it turned out to be the person Philips suspected – we don't know who that is, by the way. He thinks that Philips will know who the killer is and will try to take matters in his own hand. He thinks that he will lead us straight to the killer. To make sure that Philips wouldn't try anything before we we're ready, Jane told him that the suspect would be under constant surveillance, and he had Cho and Rigsby stake out Philips' house for the night" she concluded, hoping that those last things would make it all sound better. Secretly, she hoped that Ardiles would say that it turned out to be better than he expected, but of course, he didn't.

"_How_ do you expect me to stay calm after what you've just told me?! What is wrong with you people? Why haven't you fired him?! Can you seriously tell me that you think this is a reasonable plan?!" Ardiles shouted. Before she knew it, Lisbon had let herself get carried away and started arguing back.

"My God, Oscar! _Of course_ I don't think it's a strong plan! And I've told Jane just that! In fact, I've made that _very_ clear to him. But for me, as an agent, there are more things to consider than just what suits you best, you know! This plan was already in motion, trying to stop it would certainly cause more damage than going along with it. Besides, Jane has proven his methods for a number of times. Granted, this may not be his best plan, but it could work. And now we'll be there as well, so it will be carried out with the utmost care. I know you would like it when everything would go as you expected, but sometimes you have to think outside the box and adjust yourself to the circumstances. Now, we're about to start an operation that's going to be very important for our case, so either help us or be quiet" she said loudly, while still trying to focus on the road.

She heard Ardiles sigh and braced herself for another round of fighting, but it never came.

"We just can't do it, can we?" Ardiles asked.

"What?" Lisbon asked confused.

"We just can't work together without starting to argue at some point. I mean, I really don't want to be constantly fighting with you. Right now, I'm not even mad at you" he told her honestly.

This peace offering surprised Lisbon and she was more than glad to accept it.

"Well, it's not as bad as you think. I think that mostly we have a good time, but that we're just very passionate about our work. But that's what keeps us on our toes, right?" Lisbon asked.

"Yeah, that's true. But I don't know, there's just something between Jane and me that always makes us act very _primal_ when the other is involved" he mused out loud, realizing too late what he had said. He looked away from her, trying to hide the redness in his cheeks. Lisbon had seen it and although she knew that the practical consequences of that fact had given her a lot of extra trouble the past week, she found his confession rather adoring.

"Now that's true" Lisbon said. "But that shouldn't stand in the way of us working together like adults."

He glanced over at her and the look on his face showed that he didn't completely agree with her on that, but he wisely kept silent. Lisbon opted for a lighter comment.

"And when we're outside of work, we get along just fine, right?" she said friendly, hinting at their night out.

Ardiles looked at her and smiled. "That's true" he says.

Lisbon smiled as well, glad that their argument seemed to have been resolved.

"You know what, today, we're going to catch the killer so we can go celebrate tonight. You'll like that" Lisbon told him.

"Now I'm hoping twice as hard that that plan will succeed" Ardiles said.

The rest of the drive went smoothly and before they knew it, they arrived at the local police station.

* * *

><p>Risgby and Cho had arranged for two local police officers to guard Philips' house while they went to the police station to go through the plan. They arrived just after Jane and Van Pelt and wanted to go in to discuss the case already, but Jane didn't come with. Instead he kept looking down the road Van Pelt and he had come from minutes ago, hoping to see the black SUV arriving soon. Van Pelt noticed his impatience and started to figure out what was going on.<p>

"Jane, please tell me you didn't give Ardiles some laxative somehow?" she asked while Rigsby snickered and Cho tried hard to refrain from doing just that.

Jane looked at her, almost bewildered, without even the faintest sign of a smile. "No, I didn't" he said and it surprised him even more than the others.

* * *

><p>When the black SUV pulled up to the parking lot, and Lisbon and Ardiles stepped out with the brightest moods, Jane felt like calling the whole operation off. But he didn't. He greeted them briefly and walked into the station. There he explained what his plans were.<p>

"Lisbon and I will go to talk to Philips again. Lisbon, it's very important that you show him that I crossed the line yesterday by letting him in on our secret operation. Now I trust you'll be able to do that?" he smiled at her.

Lisbon smiled back. "I've been practicing…"

"Good," Jane continued. "We'll tell him that due to some delay in, I don't know, getting the arrest warrant or something, we've had to stop the surveillance of our suspect. But that we hope to make the arrest tomorrow. He'll be angry, think the police is a bunch of incompetent idiots and will go after 'the killer' himself. We'll be following him and wait for him to get a confession from the killer, and that's that" Jane concluded like it was nothing and waited for their responses. Ardiles' response, actually. But Lisbon was the one to speak up.

"Alright, so that's the plan. Now Cho, Rigsby, what places do you think we could best use as hide-out spots?" she asked, already going over the technical details. Jane let them discuss it, but after they were through, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Ardiles, you're awfully quiet today. Is everything okay?" he asked not even bothering to _act_ genuine.

Ardiles looked at him. "No, everything is fine. Are _you_ feeling okay?" he asked in the same tone. The other team members felt another round of bickering coming up and sighed, but Jane and Ardiles never took their eyes off of each other.

"Well, Ardiles, I must say that it's nerving me a bit to start this operation without your muttering to accompany it" Jane said provokingly.

"Nah, no muttering today. Let's just do it and see if it works. We may even catch the killer today, so I'm happy" he said, knowing it was driving Jane crazy that he acted all friendly.

Jane walked over to him and put his arm around his shoulders.

"Wow, Ardiles, I can't believe this! Just like that you're my biggest fan. I don't know what Lisbon did to you in that car…" he said, while even his biggest smile wasn't able to hide his displeasure when he looked at Lisbon. Lisbon looked away.

"It's none of your business, Jane" Ardiles said, smiling and acting just as 'friendly' while he put his arm around Jane's shoulder as well. "But I can assure you that you don't need to be nervous about my attitude" he said while he tried to look Jane in the eyes. Jane snickered. "Well, I'm not so sure about that" he grinned broadly but looked down to hide the sadness.

"But if you say so, then let's get going!" he said and slapped Ardiles on the back.

The rest followed them out quickly, grateful that the bickering between those two had ended. Jane and Lisbon took his car to one of the hiding spots, where Cho and Van Pelt were waiting for them with the SUV. Rigsby and Ardiles were waiting in a undercover car outside the other end of the road by Philips house. Jane and Lisbon got in the SUV and left the Citroen with Cho and Van Pelt, but not before making sure that they would get back to them to change vehicles again before they would start to pursue Philips.

When Lisbon parked the SUV in front of Philips' house, she glanced over at Jane once more.

"Jane" she said tenderly, but hesitated how to continue. "You do know that both Ardiles and I are genuinely supporting your plan, right?" she told him eventually.

"Of all the times you could have supported my plans, you choose just the one where I need you to show your disapproval… And they say _I_ am hard to work with..!" Jane said jokingly, carefully avoiding any sensitivity.

"You coming?" he asked while he got out of the car. Lisbon shook her head and followed him out.

They rang the bell and waited for Philips to open up. He looked anxious to see them.

"CBI, right? So did you catch the killer?" he asked immediately.

"Sir, may we come in. We have something to discuss with you" Lisbon said in her most serious voice.

"Sure, sure, come in" Philips said. They went to sit down in the living room.

"Eh, is your wife not at home?" Jane asked.

Philips thought for a moment. "No, no, I don't believe so. I think she's visiting a friend" he told them. "But tell me, what's the news you have?" he asked them.

Lisbon got into her role and glanced over at Jane with frustration in her eyes, before she looked back at Philips.

"Sir, I'm afraid we have some bad news" she said. "I believe Mr. Jane has come to talk to you about the progress of our investigation yesterday?"

Philips nodded.

"Well, sir, frankly, what he did is absolutely prohibited. He should never have done that" she said and threw a stern look at Jane. "He made a huge mistake and he'll be punished accordingly. His behavior was very unprofessional and on behalf of the CBI, I'm very sorry."

Jane nodded and mumbled something of an apology.

Philips looked at them with a confused and unsure look on his face.

"Sure, I understand. For the record, I haven't told anybody about what you said yesterday. I don't understand what the problem is, really… I mean, you guys will be making an arrest any minute now, right?" he asked.

Lisbon glanced over at Jane and back at Philips, looking nervously. She hesitated for a moment before she spoke up.

"Sir, I'm afraid that some problems have come up that prevent us from making the arrest…" she stated slowly. She saw the anger growing in Philips eyes.

"What? What?! No, you had a suspect, you had evidence, it was just waiting for the reports..!" he said in an increasingly loud voice. Lisbon bowed her head in (pretend) shame.

"I'm sorry, sir, truly. See, this is why we never discuss an ongoing case with people that are involved" she muttered, mostly directed at Jane.

Philips looked at her. "But you're still keeping him under surveillance, right?"

It didn't escape both Jane and Lisbon that he said '_him_' concerning his suspect. Trying not to show that this was new information for them, Lisbon answered quickly.

"No, sir, I'm afraid not. Our policy prevents us from keeping someone under surveillance for longer than 24 hours if there's not enough cause… It's some technical, bureaucratic rule, really…" she said, sounding sincerely apologetic.

"What?! No, no, no, you can't do this! This is bullshit! What do you mean 'not enough cause'? How is there not enough cause?! This guy killed Emily!" Philips shouted.

"Forensics is really busy at the moment, lots of cases, so the evidence reports are a little delayed. Without those, there's not much we can do…" Lisbon said.

"Ah screw this and screw you!" Philips shouted and stoop up angrily. "This is just ridiculous! You guys are a waste of the tax payer's money and my time! I want you to leave, right now, and expect a formal complaint with your boss!" he said while Jane and Lisbon made their way to the door.

"Sir, we fully understand your anger, but we hope you'll give us a few more days to catch the killer and prove we can do our jobs right…" Lisbon said, trying to reason with him.

But Philips opened the front door and literally pushed them both out before slamming it close behind them.

Adrenalin rushed through both Jane and Lisbon's bodies while they walked towards the SUV. When they were both inside and the doors were closed, they dared to let the solemn looks on their faces go. Jane smiled broadly at Lisbon.

"You…" he said pointing to her. "You were fantastic in there! You're getting better and better at lying and deceiving, I had no idea…" he said, savoring the joy of them working a (legal!) con together. Lisbon couldn't help but smile broadly as well, while she started the car.

"It's all because I've worked with you for so many years!" she said in an accusing tone.

Jane smiled again. "Yes, that's true. You've learned from the best…" he said.

Lisbon glanced over at him with an unimpressed look.

"No, I meant that the reason for me appearing believable just now, is that I've had to play that role so many times before" she said while they drove off.

Jane thought about yesterday, when she came up to his attic to scold him. For the first time in many years she had seemed really fed up with constantly having to put up with his misbehavior. Thinking about that immediately put a stop to his cheerfulness, so he decided to focus on something else.

"Ha, I knew it, it's a _role_ you play! I knew most times you weren't really angry at me…" he said to tease her a little. Instead of contradicting him, Lisbon stayed silent and smiled a little embarrassed, a soft expression on her face.

Not long after, they reached the spot where Cho and Van Pelt were waiting for them with the blue Citroën still intact, much to Jane's relief. They changed cars and Jane and Lisbon drove back towards Philips house. They parked the car a few houses from Philips' across the street. It was silent in the car. It could be explained by the suspense of the somewhat doubtful operation they were running, but they both knew that wasn't the case.

The presence of Ardiles was having an entirely different impact on them than they had expected. Both not really wanting to concretely think about what that impact was then, they couldn't escape noticing that it was affecting their relationship. Their relationship, which they had build over the years like a house of cards, but which they regarded as a stone built fortress, was now being tested by a Cuban storm called Oscar Ardiles. And when that storm started to show some weaknesses in their 'fort', they were forced to adjust quickly and improve the solidity at those points. Their house of cards had indeed felt like a fortress to them, only an elegant one, that allowed them to expand easily. They had only two concerns that kept nagging at the back of their minds. One, they always had to be very careful when it came to placing a new triangle on top of the rest. Every card had to be placed with a steady hand because if it landed wrong or if they used too much force, it could all collapse. Two, there were just so many holes they were dancing around all the time. With what would they fill those holes if they had to? Were they even able to fill them all?

In this short period of time that wasn't even a week, Ardiles' presence had exposed the holes and weaknesses in their relationship and had shown that if they were either unwilling or unable to steady their house of cards, he would destroy it entirely.

For Jane, the consequences of this lovely metaphor were that he now was sitting in a car with Teresa Lisbon beside him, and that they had been silent for a steady fifteen minutes, because they both had so much thinking to do before their time ran out.

Jane knew that if he didn't do something, he probably would lose Lisbon to Ardiles. Not like losing a trophy to an opponent, but like losing a life and getting a much crappier one in return. But getting to '_doing something_' proved to be nearly impossible for him.

He knew he felt good with Lisbon, about Lisbon, around Lisbon, just nearly any preposition could be filled in.

But _how _good he felt, he didn't know, and neither what that would mean.

He knew he didn't like her being with other men or her giving more attention to other men than him.

But did that mean he wanted to be with her?

Yes, probably.

But now?

Why not?

Because he might not be good for her. He hasn't proven to be any good for her yet and he probably never will be. Even when he would kill Red John, even after years of psychotherapy thereafter, he wouldn't be good for her. Not good enough.

So, he should let her be with other men then? With Ardiles?

NO!

No other men, that much was clear. Only realizing this made him feel like he was moving way too fast, knowing that no realization could be undone. He looked over at her and liked how she looked. So, _so_ very beautiful. She looked outside, her eyes wide with the excitement of the possibility of action and catching a bad guy. Her lips were slightly parted and a blush visible on her cheeks. Even though she always made it very clear that she should be seen as a woman, she looked every bit like a girl.

He should try to make her his in a way that no other man would ever stand a chance.

But how would he do that? Did she even like him like that? Did she… _like_ him as much as he _liked_ her?

If she didn't, he knew he would be lost forever. If he wouldn't have the prospect of her love to receive, one day or maybe even just as a dream that may never be fulfilled, there would be nothing.

Should he risk losing that dream for the chance of it actually coming true?

He had no i-

"Jane, let's go" Lisbon said cutting off his stream of thoughts.

Apparently, Philips had left his house and was driving off in his white pick-up truck. Lisbon warned the others over the radio while Jane started driving as well.

Philips was moving in Rigsby and Ardiles' direction. Somehow Jane felt relieved that Philips was on the move, at least his plan hadn't failed. That is, as long as Philips was now heading for his suspect and not going to do some grocery shopping…

Lisbon glanced over at Jane, not liking his silence. She hated it when he was obviously thinking, but not speaking out. Partially, it was because it meant that he could be forming plans in his head that she would only found out about when they were already being carried out. But mostly it was because she hated for him to be alone with his thoughts, which she knew could be destructive, without being able to share them with someone.

"So, where do you think he's going?" she asked to get him out of his reverie.

He didn't look at her and she still felt his mind was not a hundred percent focused on this case.

"Eh, well, I still think his wife is involved. But I have no idea where she is, so…" he answered.

Lisbon found this lack of involvement in his own game quite disturbing. Normally, he would enjoy betting on what would happen and explaining his theories so much he would almost seem giddy.

"Okay, well, we'll see" she said and started informing the others about Philips' whereabouts over the radio. When they reached the spot where Rigsby and Ardiles were waiting, Jane turned up to the parking lot while they left and took over the pursuit.

They listened very closely to Ardiles' reporting.

"So, he's still in the neighborhood" they heard Ardiles say over the radio.

"He's pulling up in front of a house now" he said and they heard Rigsby saying something in surprise.

"What's that, Rigs?" Lisbon asked.

"He says it's Christopher Scott's house" Ardiles replied.

Lisbon looked at Jane with a bewildered expression. Jane just shrugged.

"He could be there for any reason" he said.

Lisbon felt her concern about Jane rising. He had been off lately, distracted, and he even made mistakes. Ones he normally never made.

She knew it had to do with Ardiles joining the team for a while. While Jane had been thinking in the car earlier, she had as well.

About their relationship and how much effect Ardiles had already had on that. She had thought about the fact that both men didn't leave her unaffected. And when she had realized that, she had noticed she felt embarrassed for having feelings for Jane, but even more she felt awful for having feelings for someone else than Jane.

She tried to think about what she felt for Jane but felt some sort of blockage in her head that kept her from being able to concretely describe it.

She thought about what she felt for Ardiles. She liked him. Not only did he make her feel good about herself, she liked how she felt with him in her life. She liked what he added, how he affected her. She liked _him_, his character, his person.

So did she want to be with him?

The question immediately made a sad looking Jane pop up in her mind.

She was meant to end up with Jane. Not some other guy, not Ardiles.

But would she ever end up with Jane? And if she did, what did '_end up_' mean? Would she have to wait until the end of her life? Or longer?

If that was the case, she would wait for him. They were meant for each other. No other man could ever fill his shoes.

But were they really meant for each other? Is there such a thing as being 'meant to be'? Is it not just a dream, a shared dream they keep going between them, but without it ever coming true? Shouldn't she be glad that she found someone else she liked? Someone that was, although less than Jane, intriguing, interested in her and intense as well?

Perhaps Ardiles wouldn't be special enough, compared to Jane.

Of course he would be less special, but perhaps Jane was just too special. Perhaps that was what's keeping them from actually ever being together.

Ardiles deserved a chance, especially since it had been a long time since she had felt something for someone else than Jane. Besides, 'meant to be' only existed in fairy tales and she refused to let those believes dictate her life like some teenage girl. She would give Ardiles a chance and see what happened.

So, here she was, in his car, still balancing between choosing for her own happiness or choosing for his. If it really affected Jane so much that she started to like Ardiles, perhaps she shouldn't take things further with him. Perhaps the happiness Ardiles would give her in her private life wouldn't weigh up to the stress Jane's absent minded behavior and sadness would cause her at work. Perhaps his sad and absent minded behavior meant that they might end up together after all.

She knew she had to confront Jane on his distracted behavior sometime, but since they were in the middle of catching a killer, she decided to wait with that.

"He's going up to the house now" she heard Ardiles say, calm and professionally.

Lisbon told Jane to start driving towards them.

"He's not carrying any weapons for as far as we can see" Ardiles proceeded.

"He is ringing the doorbell… he looks nervous…"

Lisbon knew it could all go down any minute now.

"Rigsby, you ready?" she asked.

"Yes boss" he answered.

"Alright, move in, but don't blow your cover until you have a confession or until the situation gets dangerous" Lisbon ordered.

"Copy that, boss" Rigsby answered.

"He's ringing again" Ardiles said, while Rigsby got out of the car in his undercover running clothes. He started to walk up to them, headphones in and holding an mp3 player, but without music playing. He started to do warming up exercises in front of Scott's front lawn. Philips briefly glanced annoyed at him, but when Scott appeared, he turned his attention to him.

"I don't know what they're saying" Ardiles said.

"So they're talking? Not fighting?" Lisbon asked.

"No, they're talking. Scott goes back in… he grabbed his keys… They both get into Philips' car" Ardiles said.

Rigsby quickly made his way back to the car, acting as if he forgot something. While he opened the trunk and pretended to search for something, he told Ardiles what he heard.

"So he asked Scott to come with him, because he knows who killed Emily and he needs him to help beat the guy up. They're going over to the guy right now..!" he said and Ardiles immediately repeated it over the radio.

Jane and Lisbon were just waiting outside Scott's street when they saw the white pick-up driving by again and followed suit.

Rigsby and Ardiles waited a minute and then followed the same road Lisbon had said they had went. Soon they headed for more deserted roads so eventually, it became impossible to follow them by car without getting noticed. Since it was a dirt road, Philips car wasn't driving too fast. Lisbon decided they should follow by foot. To make sure they didn't look too suspicious, she grabbed Jane's hand and acted as if they were a couple on a date. The road led them past a forest and when they got around the corner, they spotted the white truck parked beside the road. Hoping they hadn't gone into the woods where she probably wouldn't find them anymore, Lisbon was glad when she heard two male voices. She gestured for Jane to get behind her and to watch where he put his feet. They were using the trees to hide behind, but they had to be careful not to step on braches on the ground, for the noise would alarm the men.

Everyone was curious who would turn out to be the killer and everyone was surprised when Lisbon told over the walkie-talkie that they had stopped in the middle of nowhere.

Jane started to feel nervous and didn't like being so close to the danger. He softly nudged Lisbon.

"I think I'll head back to the car, if that's alright with you?" he whispered as softly as possible, expecting her to understand that he was a little scared.

"What? No" Lisbon whispered back.

"Why not?" he asked surprised.

Lisbon stayed quiet for a while, mainly because she wanted to check the situation. Scott kept asking Philips what was going on, but Philips didn't answer.

Lisbon looked back at Jane again.

"Because if they spot us, we can say that we are here on a date, or something" she mumbled and looked at the ground. She knew it was a lame excuse, but she just liked to have him close when there was danger ahead, so she knew she could keep him safe. Jane smiled, of course.

"You think they would believe that we were a couple?" he whispered softened and amused.

Before Lisbon could answer she heard Philips shouting. He grabbed the larger man by his shirt and pushed him against a tree.

"It's you, you bastard! I knew it was you, I knew it was you! Everyone was whispering about that affair you were having, but no one told me about it! I knew I couldn't trust you!" he shouted.

To Jane the whole scene looked quite funny. Philips was a small, albeit muscled man, looking quite nerdy, while Scott was a big man with a broad jaw and a large forehead. Still Philips was attacking Scott and Scott looked genuinely scared.

However funny it may seem to him, Jane was still glad when Rigsby appeared so Jane could safely stand back a little without deserting Lisbon. He didn't want to go back to the car because he was just too curious and wanted to watch his plan unfold. Besides, he knew he would find Ardiles there as well.

Eventually, they heard Scott replying to Philips.

"I'm sorry man, I really am. But you were never there for her, you didn't care for her anymore!" he shouted back desperately.

"What are you talking about?! I loved her more than anything! I can't believe Emily would choose you over me!"

"Emily? You think I was having an affair with Emily? No, man, I'm in love with Susan!" Scott said which clearly took Philips off guard.

"What do you mean 'you weren't having an affair with Emily'? The police came to me yesterday, they told me they found out it was you, they had evidence…" Philips said, looking confused at the ground as if the answer could be found there.

"You're lying to me!" he shouted out suddenly in a new burst of anger, while he pulled a gun and pointed it to Scott.

Both Lisbon and Rigsby immediately wanted to intervene, but Jane quickly motioned for them to wait just a little longer.

Scott started to cry.

"Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me! Yes, I… I killed her, but I wasn't having an affair, I swear! I did it for Susan, I did it for her! She was so sad, you were hurting her so bad. She deserved to be happy. She told me the only way I could make her happy was to kill Emily, she said that she had ruined her life, that you were going to divorce her and leave her with nothing. She said that she would leave me if I didn't do it" he cried.

Philips listened to all this and when Scott was finished realization set in.

"I'm going to kill her! I'll kill her! But first I'm going to kill you!" he screamed, but before he was able to point his gun at Scott again, Lisbon and Rigsby jumped from the bushes, their weapons drawn, shouting at him to drop his gun.

* * *

><p>After they arrested both men and led them towards the cars, Lisbon told Cho and Van Pelt to find out where Susan Philips was. The agents found her at Scott's house and they arrested her as well. At first, she didn't confess to have anything to do with the murder, but when she spotted her husband at the Fresno police station, and he started to scream at her, she shouted back that she did it to make him feel how it felt to lose the one you love and to be betrayed. And so the case was closed for the team.<p>

It was half past three in the afternoon when they were ready to go back to Sacramento. Everybody was happy. Most of them because they caught a killer and solved a case and were now looking forward to having the Sunday off. But Jane and Lisbon were also glad that his plan had worked out, because it spared them so much trouble and fighting. Even Ardiles seemed satisfied, even though Lisbon had figured that he would be upset about the fact that Scott confessed with a gun pointing at him.

On the drive home, Ardiles seemed truly relaxed. Cho and Rigsby drove with Lisbon and him while Jane and Van Pelt went together in his Citroën. As soon as they were on the road, Ardiles started to chat with the three agents and laughed about their anecdotes. Lisbon was glad that the others were able to see this side of him as well. After it was silent in the car for a minute, they heard soft snoring coming from Rigsby, who had fallen asleep. This provided a perfect opportunity for Ardiles to ask the other two about what was going on between him and Van Pelt. Cho remained silent, not wanting to gossip about his friend, certainly to Ardiles, whom he still didn't like very much. Lisbon stayed silent as well at first, not knowing how Ardiles would respond to the knowledge of them having been in a relationship, since it was prohibited. But, eventually, she told him what had been and obviously still was playing between them.

Instead of getting mad or frustrated, Ardiles smiled broadly. "I knew there was something going on" he said, whispering to prevent Rigsby from waking up. "I think it was very nice of you not to force one of them to transfer."

Lisbon smiled at his compliment. She felt relieved that he hadn't used her approval of the relationship amongst coworkers as an excuse to start about her and Jane again. Ardiles was nice, she thought and wondered why she always put Jane so much above other men. Ardiles was at least just as nice as him, she concluded and a certain ease settled over her.

* * *

><p>Before they arrived at the CBI, they swung by their usual pizza place to get their case-closed pizza's. They ate them together and chatted about random stuff. They laughed about Rigsby, who was too hungry to change out of his running shorts before starting on his pizza. They enjoyed themselves so much that at some point, Van Pelt felt comfortable enough to suggest they went to the bar and celebrate just as Lisbon and Ardiles had done earlier that week. "Yesss" Ardiles said, eager to get the party starting again, but Lisbon mostly remembered the hangover the next day.<p>

"Ugh, alright" she sighed with a smile on her lips. "But tonight I'm definitely not drinking much!"

Jane didn't like talking about that night, and frankly he didn't like how eager Ardiles was to go out again. But he figured that since he was allowed to come along tonight, he could keep an eye on them and prevent anything from happening. So, the whole gang made their way to the bar, which was within walking distance of the CBI.

Before they entered Lisbon pulled Ardiles close. "No shots tonight" she whispered to him. He smiled broadly but nodded his head in approval. "I agree."

It was eight o'clock and since it was a Saturday night, the place was quite crowded already. They found a bar table and sat down. Rigsby got them their first round of beers. They toasted to the closed case.

"So, how did you know Philips' wife was involved?" Van Pelt asked Jane suspiciously.

Jane smiled at her. Van Pelt smiled back.

"You were guessing!" she said triumphantly. The others were watching in amusement.

"Her family portrait" Jane answered. Van Pelt didn't seem too impressed so Jane continued.

"It was taken when she was around the age of eighteen. She was hugging her mother, while her father was standing amongst the uncles and aunts, with a girl on his arm that was barely older than his daughter. She and her mother despised him for the way he treated them, trading her mother in for a young bimbo. He probably also cheated first" Jane ended, as if the rest was obvious.

"So?" Lisbon asked, mixing herself in the discussion. Jane switched his attention to her.

"So, she didn't trust men after that. She used them to do things for her, being beautiful as she was. Then she married the one that seemed the most loyal and useful. But when she found out he was also betraying her, the same way her father had betrayed her mother, she couldn't take it anymore. I should have known though that she wouldn't be able to execute the murder herself, she didn't have the nerve…" he concluded thinking out loud.

Everyone was silent for a while. Then Cho spoke up.

"Nah I'm not buying it. You just guessed."

The rest started to laugh and agreed with him, while Jane shrugged his shoulders and tried to look as enigmatic as he could. They talked and laughed some more about Jane's stunts and about Lisbon's performance at Philips' house that morning. Cho told about how Rigsby had slept almost all night during their stake out and Rigsby responded by saying that Cho had been utterly boring reading his book.

Sometime later, it was Ardiles turn to get them their beers. When he was gone, Van Pelt, feeling slightly tipsy already, dared to ask Lisbon the question everyone had been thinking.

"So, what will you do with him?" she asked. When she heard how that had sounded and she saw Lisbon quirking an eyebrow, she quickly rephrased.

"I mean, will he still be joining us? Or did you manage to change his opinion about us?"

Lisbon decided not to read too much into Van Pelt's Freudian slips.

"As a matter of fact, we agreed that he would withdraw his complaint after this case was solved, so Monday we'll be on our own again" Lisbon answered.

"Good" Cho responded.

"I don't know, I think it was good that we've done this. He's really a good guy, I've started to like him" Rigsby said.

Van Pelt nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Lisbon and Jane looked at each other but as soon as their eyes met, they looked away quickly.

Ardiles returned with their beers.

"Cheers" he said and while everyone took a swallow of their beer, they noticed that instead of sitting down again, Ardiles had remained standing and was slightly moving to the music, being unaware of it himself. They laughed.

"What?" he asked.

"You're dancing" Lisbon explained.

Ardiles didn't seem the least bit embarrassed.

"Well, how could I not when there's good music playing" he responded. Lisbon laughed. He got a gleam in his eye.

"It would be even better if I had a nice dance partner…" he said while moving closer to her. Lisbon leaned back on her bar stool to create more space between them, an alarmed look on her face.

"No, nah-ah, I'm not going to dance with you, sorry" she said very clearly, a flush already on her face from just the idea of dancing with him like she had before, but this time in front of her team..!

Ardiles backed away, and Lisbon couldn't determine whether the hurt look on his face was real or pretend.

"I guess if no one wants to dance with me, I'm back to dancing on my own again…" he said. Jane liked the sad look on his face.

"You find it strange that no one wants to dance with you, when you dance like you've been a Chippendale all your life!" he said. "It's kind of nasty…"

He caught the harsh tone in his own words and knew it was from the alcohol in his system, but frankly he didn't care that he was ruining Ardiles little party.

Rigsby started to laugh. "How do _you_ know that, Jane?" he asked and everyone laughed about the idea of Jane and Ardiles dancing together like Chippendales.

Van Pelt had found that Ardiles didn't deserve Lisbon's blunt refusal and Jane's harsh words, and she had also liked the music.

"I would like to dance…" she opted, much to everybody's surprise.

Ardiles grinned and downed the last of his beer before taking her to dance floor, both of them completely ignoring the rest.

"Be careful, Grace!" Jane called after them, but secretly he was very happy that Ardiles was gone and hadn't taken Lisbon.

Soon, though, he started to doubt whether this had indeed been the best of ideas, because now he noticed that not only Rigsby, but also Lisbon, was watching the dancing couple very closely. Lisbon was seated with her back to the dance floor so she had to turn around to see what was going on. She had wanted to casually glance over, but felt a huge sting of jealousy when Ardiles spun Van Pelt around like he had her two nights ago. She watched them through narrowed eyes and decided that it was a good sign that there was still enough space between their bodies and that their hands were still on appropriate places. Only then did she realize that she had been staring at a guy like some jealous school girl and turned back to the other people at the table.

Jane, of course, had been watching her closely and the grim look on his face showed that he was aware of her thoughts. She hated that she not only felt ashamed, but also guilty towards him. It wasn't like _he_ would ask her to dance, now would he? It was like he didn't want her, but no other man could have her either. Still, she would make sure she wouldn't turn around to look at Ardiles again. Not for Jane, but for Cho, whose respect she wished to maintain. She briefly glanced over at Rigsby, who was still watching the dancing pair. He didn't have to turn around for it, but it was still overly obvious. Even though it had been nearly three years since they split up, Rigsby still hated to see Van Pelt with other men.

When he frowned, Lisbon immediately turned around and saw Ardiles dipping Van Pelt, who was laughing very hard about it.

When she turned back, embarrassed, she didn't even dare to look at Cho and Jane's expressions, so she glanced over at Rigsby. He was looking at her with pleading eyes, begging her to get Ardiles away from Van Pelt. Lisbon sighed.

"Alright…" she said and told herself she would do this solely for Rigsby's sake.

She turned around again and looked at Ardiles. Not like before, when she was trying to hide it, but bold and obvious this time.

It took just a few seconds to catch his attention. Even though he was dancing with Van Pelt, he couldn't help but let his eyes wander in Lisbon's direction every now and then. When he saw her watching him, with her legs crossed and her back slightly arched, he knew for sure that he wouldn't leave tonight before he had danced with her. She held his stare and when she grinned a little he found her so seductive that he nearly stopped moving. Whether she noticed it or not, she didn't act upon it, but instead used her eyes and head to motion to the person sitting behind her, which was Rigsby. When Ardiles looked at him and saw him watching Van Pelt so wistful, he got the hint. He turned his attention back to Van Pelt.

"As much as I liked dancing with you, I think there's someone who would want to dance with you even more than I do…" he said to her.

Van Pelt smiled while they walked over to the table where the rest was sitting.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, I think Rigsby here would really enjoy a little dance with you, right?" he asked and looked over at Rigsby, who was looking more nervous than a freshman in the same situation.

Van Pelt, knowing him, decided to make this a little easier for him.

"Ah would you? That would be so great!" she said, a little over the top.

"Eh, sure" Rigsby more asked than said while he hesitantly stood up. Van Pelt grabbed his hand and led them to the dance floor, leaving the others amused behind.

Ardiles stood beside Lisbon, leaning against the table.

While they weren't saying anything, they were both grinning like idiots and Jane found his poor heart… eh, mind deserved a break.

He stood up and downed his beer.

"Another round everyone?" he asked without waiting for their replies.

Ardiles looked at Cho, who was staring straight at him from across the table and decided to ignore it. He turned his attention back to Lisbon. She was staring past him at Jane, who was looking at her from the bar, with a mix of feelings clear on his face. She saw dissatisfaction, tiredness, a little desperation maybe, hurt, some anger, bitterness, desire and perhaps that same wistfulness she had seen on Rigsby's face earlier. He seemed so lonely, his sadness standing out like a sore thumb amongst the happy crowd celebrating their Saturday night with cheerful classics coming from the speakers.

Lisbon broke their eye-contact by looking down, feeling there wasn't much she could do to help him at this moment. When she looked back up again he had turned around. Ardiles had been looking at her as well, but he had a merry smile on his face. It made her smile in return, he leaned closer to her.

"_One_ dance…" he whispered. Lisbon didn't back away.

"No…" she said as if she was trying to convince him that this wasn't a good idea.

He wasn't impressed.

"Come on, show your team that you respect the D.A.'s office… It's only_ one_ dance!" he begged, with a broad smile on his face while he stepped into her personal zone.

Lisbon laughed, feeling her resistance slipping away.

"No…" she answered again, her face pleading him to understand that this wasn't a smart thing to do.

He seemed get even more amused by her reaction. And confident as well, because now he stepped so close to her, his legs touched hers.

"What's the problem?" he asked challengingly. "Jane has already seen us dancing, those two are too busy with each other…" he said, referring to Rigsby and Van Pelt, who were enjoying themselves immensely on the dance floor. "And Cho, well, I think it's safe to say that he won't erupt in anger or tears…" he concluded with a smile. "Come on, show me that we've really improved our relationship…"

Lisbon knew she would give in eventually and it seemed a lot easier without Jane's sad eyes looking at her.

"Okay" she said and accepted his offered hand.

As soon as he had her hand, he spun her around, pulling their joined hands behind his head while she turned back to him, so she landed against his chest, her arm around his neck and her body close to his. At first she seemed a little shocked but when Ardiles bit his bottom lip from amusement, she couldn't help but laugh as well.

Lisbon tried to keep things decent by holding both his hands while they danced, and he respected that by keeping a little bit of space between them. He twirled her back and forth and showed that he, of course, also mastered the classic dance moves. He waltzed them over the entire floor, boogie-woogied, jived and danced the Charleston with her. Again Lisbon felt how good it was to be able to dance so freely, and since he was so good at it, she gladly let him lead her. Mostly, they were just having fun, trying to come up with the most crazy and remarkable dance moves. They laughed when they saw Rigsby trying to do the same thing Ardiles had when he had finally convinced Lisbon to come dance with him. When he spun Van Pelt around, he couldn't figure out what to do with their hands to get her arm around his neck. After Lisbon and he were done laughing, Ardiles called over to him.

"Rigsby, watch, here's how you do it" he said and stretched his arm out, offering his hand to Lisbon. She laughed about how happy he was showing off his womanizing tricks, but put her hand in his nonetheless.

For a millisecond, he looked at her with the happiest smile on his face, and then he pulled their hands up above her head, spinning her around, pulling her arm around his neck when she came to face him again.

Again, her body landed against his with her arm around his neck, while he held his firmly around her waist. They both laughed and noticed how close their faces were. Ardiles quickly looked over at Rigsby, to prevent him and Van Pelt to get any ideas. They were decent enough to at least act as if they had no idea what was going on between Lisbon and Ardiles and started to practice the move diligently.

Lisbon looked back at Ardiles, who still held her body close to his. When The Beatles' Twist and Shout started to play, he showed that he planned on holding her just there. He swayed them a little and twisted his hips against hers. She quickly took a little step back, grabbing his hands again. It didn't bother him and he went on twisting with her. She laughed and he took the liberty to turn her around so her back was against his chest, their arms crossed in front of her. He swayed them somewhat seductively, their bodies moving against each other in sync, before he turned her back around. Already letting the music taking over his dancing, he pulled her closer, holding her small body in his arms, while he pressed his forehead against hers and looked her deeply in the eyes. He bend his knees a little, moving them up and down slowly with the music. Their bodies touched nearly everywhere and Lisbon felt herself get sucked into that seductive, sensual world Ardiles created. But she knew she couldn't let herself, not in front of her team. They were watching and she would make a fool of herself. When he dipped her and pulled her back up, she erupted in a laughing fit, landing against his chest. She felt so nervous and insecure about how she should behave. It just all felt so ridiculous. The tension from working this case, the tension between her and Jane and the tension between her and Ardiles, the beers she had, it all resulted in her laughing uncontrollably, slapping Ardiles softly on the arm. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stop laughing, afraid that he would feel upset about her laughing at him. But he didn't appear to be upset at all: He was laughing amusedly at her sudden outburst and pulled her even closer to him.

"I'm sorry…" she apologized.

He looked her in the eye. "You have nothing to apologize for…" he said.

They held each other's stare even when they were done laughing and Ardiles started to sway them again. Lisbon twisted with him and placed her hands on his chest. They moved against each other, sometimes faster, sometimes slowly. Every now and then he turned her around to dance against her back and let his hands run over her hips while she twisted against him. Sometimes they would step away from each other, always holding hands, but then quickly pulling each other close again.

Contrary to before, when they moved across the entire floor, they now remained at one little spot, a little out of sight, having their own private party.

Their hands were all over each other, like they had been on their night out. Ardiles had loosened his tie, left his jacket with Cho and had pulled up his sleeves. The top four buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned and Lisbon was running her hands through his thick, dark hair.

He had found out quickly that she was wearing a tight, black tank top underneath her loose-fitting white-grey shirt when he had let his fingers pull up the hem of her shirt while his hands played around her hips. He was hoping to feel some skin, but the tank top prevented it. Therefore, he let his palms run over her bare arms, that were resting on his shoulders, crossing behind his neck. Their faces were extremely close, their lips just mere inches apart. Ardiles felt Lisbon's hot breath tickling against his lips. His hands wandered dangerously close to her butt, so he moved them upwards to pull her hair up and let it fall down again. Nothing smelled as sensual to him at that moment as the smell of her shampoo.

Unaware to them, Jane had returned with six beers, and found only Cho still there. He had sat down beside him and had found in Cho perfect company, not really being in the mood to talk. He had spotted Lisbon and Ardiles immediately. The guy was just too much of a show-off to not notice. When he saw him pulling Lisbon close, Jane couldn't help but snort.

"Stupid…" he said to no-one in particular, but much to his surprise, Cho responded.

"Yeah…" he said.

Jane decided to vent just a little more. "Look at him, all dancing and being fun, while just a week ago, he wanted nothing more than to see us all leaving!" he muttered.

"Yeah I know, it's just wrong" Cho agreed.

Ardiles and Lisbon had no notion of the muttering pair watching them, not even when Ardiles had moved them past their table to grab their beers. Nor did they notice when Van Pelt and Rigsby suddenly broke off their dance and went home, because their dancing had become too dangerously close to flirting. They only had eye for each other. Both singing along with the song as over the top as they could and sometimes taking a swallow of their beers. When Lisbon looked at him with her dreamy eyes and her seductive smile, while her fingers played with the hairs on the back of his head and her hips softly brushed against him, he had to work hard not to push her against the nearest wall and press his body against hers.

When the song ended and another song started, they didn't continue to dance. They stood in their own corner, holding each other closely, trying hard not to let their lips touch. They were breathing heavily and it had nothing to do with exhaustion. Ardiles had his arm wrapped completely around her waist and Lisbon's hands were on his chest, her fingers playing with his buttons. They stood perfectly still, before Lisbon noticed Ardiles was moving his head a little, as if he would kiss her any minute. She swallowed. He moved his arm up and down over her lower back, moving her shirt up and down with it. Her lips slightly parted and his eyes reflexively looked at them before looking her back in the eyes again. She felt his grip on her waist tighten, pressing their hips against each other even more. Lisbon felt the hotness radiating from his skin and knew she must be giving off the same heat. He licked his lips.

"I think I'm gonna go home soon…" he whispered, barely audible, his voice hoarse with arousal.

"Yeah, me too…" Lisbon answered and found her voice to be just as hoarse.

When Ardiles saw her eyes darkening with want, he got the confidence to ask her the question he had wanted to ask her all night.

"Wanna share a cab?"

Lisbon nodded, knowing full well what he meant.

They let go of each other reluctantly while they made their way back to their table, where Cho and Jane seemed to be wrapped up in a very interesting conversation and a lot of beer. Lisbon didn't mind.

"Guys, I think I'm going home…" she said, and yawned to show why she would be going home. No-one responded, so Ardiles decided he might as well.

"Yeah, good idea, I think I'm going home too…" he said, but Jane and Cho still didn't respond to them, because they were still too involved in their own drunken conversation.

Just when Lisbon thought she could sneak out with Ardiles unseen, _and_ have a good excuse for it, Jane looked at her.

"Really?" he asked, not sounding surprised at all.

She didn't know where to look, and even though she should know better, she mumbled an excuse.

"I'm tired…"

She waited for Ardiles to put on his jacket again and turned to walk away.

"We could share a cab?" she bothered to say as if she just came up with the idea.

"Sure" Ardiles replied, walking way to close to her.

"See you guys Monday" she threw over her shoulder. She had no intention of looking Jane in the eye in this situation.

"Right… Yeah…" she heard the sarcastic answer coming from him. She couldn't care though, she was just glad he hadn't opted to share their cab as well, or some other embarrassing stunt.

Getting outside seemed to take an eternity to them. When they _finally_ made it, they both let out a sigh of relieve. It was still very warm outside, the night was as sultry as could be. Not really knowing what the other had in mind, they didn't dare to look at each other. Both looked around, staring into the distance to see if they could spot a cab. Ardiles checked his watch and saw that it was only a little past twelve, so cabs should be coming and going all the time with all those bars in the neighborhood.

"Let's wait for a few minutes, I think a cab will show up soon" he said and Lisbon agreed. He dared to look over at her.

"It was a fun night, right?" he asked.

Lisbon laughed. "Yes" she said.

"Glad I convinced you to dance?" he asked, a little cocky.

She grinned. "Yes" she said again, still not looking at him.

"Good" he said and started to sing the lyrics to Twist and Shout.

"Well, shake it up, baby, now… Twist and shout…" he sang and paused after every sentence.

"No this doesn't sound right. You have to sing after me, you know, the parts in between. Otherwise it sounds like crap" he stated and it seemed to truly upset him a little.

Lisbon laughed.

"We could also _not_ sing…" she opted. Ardiles just looked at her in astonishment before looking away and shaking his head as if she had just said the stupidest thing. It took him a while to look back at her again.

"To _what_ would we dance, then?" he asked, as if he was talking to a six-year-old.

Lisbon laughed again. "Right, I see. Stupid of me" she answered sarcastically, but it seemed to satisfy Ardiles. "Alright, I'll sing with you" she said and didn't even know what was going on with her herself.

They sung together and even though there was no real music playing, it sounded good enough in their minds. Especially Ardiles made a whole show of it, but Lisbon was enjoying herself as well.

Ardiles danced over to her, acting as if her were serenading her. He came up really close to her and they both laughed while they were singing. Eventually, he put his arms around her, pulling her as close as possible. Lisbon secretly enjoyed him singing those things to her and Ardiles enjoyed her singing them back at him. They swayed together again and Lisbon let her hands wander over his chest and shoulders. Without anyone – _Jane_, that is– watching them, they nearly couldn't control themselves anymore. They twisted against each other, moving their bodies against each other, while Ardiles pressed one knee between her thighs. He put his hand on the middle of her back and motioned for her to let herself fall back, arching her back so their pelvises were pushed together and her shirt was pulled tightly over her upper body so Ardiles could enjoy the view. He moved her from the left to the right before pulling her back up again. Lisbon was slightly flushed from the somewhat erotic move. Ardiles smiled naughtily at her.

He pulled her even closer and Lisbon put her arms around his neck. Even though she knew they were almost twice that age, she felt as if they were just college kids.

He placed his arms firmly around her, one just above her butt, the other just below her bosom and smiled at her.

She smiled back and let him move them up and down while their bodies rubbed against each other. His dark eyes stared intensely at her that she had to focus on his black eye to prevent herself from getting all wobbly in the knees. He bit on his bottom lip and put his palms on her hips. The way she was moving them, the way her hands slowly slid from behind his neck to his chest, the way she was looking at him; it was just too sensual for him to wait any longer.

He let his hands glide over her sides before wrapping them around her waist again. He brought his face even closer to hers. They looked each other in the eye knowingly, arousal radiating off of them. She broke their gaze for just a second to glance at his lips. When she looked back at his desire-filled eyes again, he covered the last few millimeters before letting his lips touch hers.

_Finally_, they kissed. Lisbon responded immediately by moving her lips against his. He didn't wait any longer to deepen the kiss. It was hot, steamy, sexy. They pulled each other closer fervently in their sensual embrace. Their hands explored each other's bodies friskily. They had been building up to this moment for years, it seemed. At that very moment, they felt so connected, their mutual attraction pulling them together harder than the strongest magnets. It was a very passionate kiss, not just a horny, hard kiss between a guy and a girl, but a kiss between two adults who couldn't resist their sizzling chemistry any longer.

It had been too long since Lisbon had kissed like this. The urge she felt to kiss and touch him was reflected in his behavior. His one hand was gliding up her back, to behind her head, the other around her waist. Both arms were pulling her body close to him while he angled his head to capture her lips better. Lisbon let her hands wander free over his chest and shoulders, every now and then trailing her fingers over the bare skin underneath his shirt.

After a while, their kissing became slower and softer, but never once breaking contact, until, at last, they finally ran out of breath.

Their lips were swollen and red, their eyes dark with lust and their heads foggy with arousal. They watched each other expectantly, both a little surprised by the overwhelming rush of their arousal. Knowing there was no turning back now, they couldn't keep their hands and eyes off of each other. As if they allowed themselves to fully notice how extremely attractive they both were for the first time, they couldn't get enough of each other. Their kisses were sexier every time, and when Ardiles, on autopilot, started to move against Lisbon's body as they had before, they immediately felt their bodies responding.

It was this sight that greeted Jane when he left the bar after calling it a night. He hadn't wanted to spy on them again, but this was hard to miss. Jane had to resist multiple urges, most of which he couldn't define. He knew they would be going home together and what they would do when they got there. For the first time he hoped that this would just be another meaningless one-night-stand for Lisbon. Trying to look away was harder than it seemed, so he kept watching them and torturing himself until they would get in a cab and drive off, before he would walk back to his attic at the CBI.

In the mean time, three cabs had come and gone without Lisbon and Ardiles noticing. Feeling that their make-out session was getting out of hand, Lisbon quickly put some distance between them and couldn't be more grateful when she saw a cab appearing in the distance.

She smiled a little at Ardiles, who was totally mesmerized by her.

"Let's go" she said when the cab pulled up in front of them.

Ardiles held the door open for her and got in after her.

"Where to?" the driver asked. They looked at each other hesitantly.

"Your place" the both answered in sync.

It was the same discussion they had Thursday night, and Lisbon still felt curious about what his house would be like (a dustbin?)…

"Come on, let's go to your place, it's closer" Ardiles said.

"No, it's not. Besides, it's a mess at my place. Let's go to yours" Lisbon answered.

Ardiles grinned. "I find it hard to believe that your house would be a mess… Anyway, it seemed fine to me when I dropped you off last time" Ardiles argued back.

"Exactly, you've seen my house, now I want to see yours!" Lisbon told him.

"It's just a house, I'm a man, there's nothing special about it!" Ardiles argued back.

Lisbon sighed.

"I know you're a lawyer and you like arguing and stuff, but do you really think _this_ is the right moment for it?" she said and knew she had won.

Ardiles smiled broadly. "Alright, you win, you twisted little girl" he said and told the cab driver the address.

While they were driving, Lisbon wondered why Ardiles had wanted to go to her house so badly. Perhaps he _did_ live in a dustbin, she thought, amused. She glanced over at him, looking so handsome an sharp in his black suit, with his hair all messy. He probably wasn't living in a dustbin, she decided. He probably had the same motive she had for going to the other's house. She always made sure she went home with a guy, instead of taking him home, so she could leave whenever she wanted to. Ardiles must have had the same M.O.

When the car stopped and Ardiles paid the driver, Lisbon glanced out her window curiously. She saw a large, modern apartment building and wondered if that was really where he lived. When he got out, so did she and walked up to the front door behind him.

"Wow, this is _not _a dustbin…" she murmured, astonished by the fancy hall she saw through the glass doors.

Ardiles grinned. "What?"

Lisbon smiled mischievously at him. "I thought, since you're just like Oscar the Grouch…"

Ardiles snorted while he grabbed his keys from his pocket and went to unlock the door.

"Really… No, this _not_ a dustbin, no. And I am _not _a grouch. Don't you remember me telling you to try just a little harder to be charming?" he said while he opened the door and looked at her, smiling just as mischievously as her. "You're really _awful_ at seducing men" he teased her playfully.

Lisbon laughed. "And yet I'm here…" she said and brushed past him when she entered. She turned around to look at him and saw him looking lustfully at her. "I don't need to be nice to seduce men…" she said seductively. Ardiles swallowed hard before closing the door behind him and walking up to her.

"If you're not nice to me, you can _walk _all up to the eighth floor, instead of using the elevator…" he threatened with a smile.

Lisbon walked over to him slowly, acting as if she gave up.

"Alright, you win" she laughed and placed her hands on his sides. "In that case…" she murmured before she kissed him. He cupped her cheek with one hand while he kissed her. Lisbon let her hands wander over his sides and down his hips over his upper legs. She could have sworn that she heard him softly moan, but she had no time to dwell on that. Finally, her fingers traced over the bump she was looking for. With the skill of a pick-pocket, she lifted his keys from his trouser pocket. She broke the kiss, even though it had the potential of becoming very, _very_ steamy.

"I'll show you just how good at seducing I am…" Lisbon said. Ardiles opened his eyes to look at her in confusion, while she backed away, walking over to the elevator as fast as she could, unable to hide the big smile on her face. By the time she reached the elevator and pressed the '8' button, Ardiles had figured out what she had done and hurried over to her, hoping to make it to the elevator before the doors closed.

"_You_ take the stairs..!" she laughed. He smiled at her wicked ways, finding her competitiveness extremely sexy. He just caught the doors in time to prevent them from closing. When he walked in as well and pressed the 'close doors' button, he went to stand so close to her that their bodies could as well been glued together. Lisbon expected him to put his arms around her again, but he didn't.

"Okay, alright, you're the most charming woman I know. With your little tricks. You're breathtaking… No man can resist you" he told her honestly. Lisbon blushed a little, still not very used to getting compliments from him.

"Thank you. I suppose you're not a grouch…" she admitted. Ardiles smiled.

They kept looking at each other, but neither of them moved. When Lisbon felt she started to blush from the intensity in his eyes, she looked down to hide it. Ardiles took his hands out of his pockets and placed them gently on her sides. He softly pushed her against the wall and stepped up close. As soon as she looked back up at him again, he kissed her.

Before they knew it, the elevator arrived at the top floor. They hated to break off their kiss, but at the same time they couldn't wait to get somewhere private where they could take things further. Lisbon was the first to leave the elevator and pulled at Ardiles' tie to get him to follow her. Outside, she followed him to one of the three doors, which she figured was his. Ardiles had to pat all his pockets multiple times before he realized that Lisbon had taken his keys before. She was leaning against the wall next to the door and stretched out her arm to offer him his keys, a playful smile still on her lips.

Ardiles glanced at her. She looked hotter than ever before, as mesmerizing and as enchanting as could be, seducing him easily without even trying. He couldn't think straight and his whole body yearned to touch her, to kiss her, to undress her… He loved the tingling of arousal going through his body but he hated the cloud in his head. He was a celebrated attorney, for crying out loud, and he had had enough women before her. Surely he could manage to get himself together and stop acting like a complete idiot. So he looked at her and took the keys from her hand. Deciding that instead of jumping her again, he should first open the door and let them in, he looked away and focused on putting the key in the lock. He hurried too much, so he failed a couple of times. When the key was finally in, he couldn't control himself any longer. What had he been thinking, trying to refrain from kissing her? Why would he, he thought to himself and moved over so her body was trapped between his and the wall. He moved his hands underneath her loose shirt and pulled at the tight tank top while he kissed her passionately. Lisbon kissed him back, but didn't dare to touch him, afraid they wouldn't be able to hold themselves back and have sex right there in the corridor. It took her a while though to push him away from her and break off their kiss. He grumbled from displeasure.

"Come on, open the door…" Lisbon prompted him. He knew she was right but held one arm firmly around her while he used the other to turn the key and push the door open. He moved her so she was standing in the door opening and pushed his body against hers so they moved inside, while he captured her lips for another kiss.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she was overwhelmed by the view. One entire wall was completely made of glass and it created a spectacular view over a large part of Sacramento. His apartment was just big enough for one person and had only the necessary furniture, though everything in the apartment seemed luxurious. Lisbon turned around to get a good look, but kept being pulled to the glass wall. She looked at all the little lights, all the little houses and buildings, the cars that were always driving around. Ardiles grinned at the expressions on her face. He kept watching her when he made his way over to the thick, black, velvet curtains to close them. When she saw that he planned to pull them in front of the glass wall, she felt strangely disappointed. He noticed it and left the curtains were they were. She took another look outside, but when Ardiles came standing behind her and put his arms around her while he started to kiss the side of her neck, it became hard for her to focus on anything else but him. His kisses went down to the top of her shoulder, while his hands were sneaking under her shirt again. His fingers trailed feather light over her stomach and her hips, going upwards, but just before they reached her breasts, they went down her sides again. Lisbon couldn't keep herself from touching and kissing him anymore, so she turned around in his embrace and waited for him to look at her before she brushed her lips against his. It quickly turned into a very intense kiss. Both realizing that they were finally where they wanted to be, they let their hands wander freely over each other's body. Lisbon dipped her fingers underneath his shirt, tracing them over his chest muscles up to his strong shoulders. Ardiles let his hands glide down her back before placing them firmly on her butt. She smiled against his lips and got a smile back, but without them breaking their kiss. They reveled in the feeling of their arousal increasing every time their tongues would sweep across a sensitive spot. Ardiles softly started to push against her, moving them towards to glass wall. When he pressed her against it, she felt a rush of fear going through her body. It felt just like she was balancing on a the edge of cliff, with only his hold on her butt to keep her from falling down. That idea and the adrenalin going through her body turned her on so much she shivered. He felt it and let his hands wander over her lower back, pulling her even closer. Lisbon pushed his jacket from his shoulders and pulled the tie from around his neck. He responded by pulling her loose shirt upwards, breaking their kiss for just the necessary amount of time to pull it over her head before letting it fall to the ground.

"Remind me to thank Wainwright…" he mumbled against her mouth. They both smiled. Their sensual kiss got filled with even more want, when more skin got revealed. Lisbon fumbled with his shirt until it was completely unbuttoned. She let her hands roam over his chest and upper arms, over his shoulders before letting them glide over his stomach. He was so, so very sexy.

Ardiles suddenly pushed his body even harder against her while he placed his right leg between hers to get even closer, craving the skin-to-skin contact. His naked chest was pushing against her still very much covered breasts while her bare arms rubbed against his shirt-clad ones. Although they were both disappointed at first, they soon noticed a spot where their skins met. It was just above the waistlines of their pants, the part where Ardiles had managed to pull her tank top up just slightly. It was the hottest thing they ever felt. Their skins were burning with desire, the teasing sensation of being touched just inches above where they longed for most, increasing it tenfold.

Ardiles grinded his pelvis against hers to feel more of her skin against his, but Lisbon had a better plan. In one quick motion, she pushed his shirt from his body and started to undo his belt. Her fingers playing around in that area made Ardiles moan and he decided it was time to move this to the bedroom. He started to make his way towards the bedroom door, pulling Lisbon with him. He found it hard to focus though, with her fingers still playing around his zipper. As soon as his pants were loose, he started to push of his shoes and socks, to clear the way for when Lisbon decided to pull down his pants. She didn't though and he sighed.

He knew he was going way too fast. He shouldn't be so hasty, he should take his time and make this last as long as he could. A woman like Teresa needed to be worshipped, every move he made should get his full attention. He broke the kiss softly and pulled his head back a little, creating some space between them. They opened their eyes and looked at each other. Lisbon felt it hard to think and focus while they were standing so close and couldn't figure out why he had stopped kissing her.

"What's wrong?" she asked and sounded way too insecure for her own liking.

"Nothing" he answered while he looked at her and felt the temptation to kiss her again overwhelming. He lowered his gaze to her lips and moved his face towards hers again. When their lips nearly touched he paused again, trying to get himself under control. He had been glad to see his own want and passion reflected in her eyes. He knew it may have come across as strange to others that they were now in each others' arms, sharing sensual kisses, while normally they were always arguing. But underneath the daily annoyance and frustration between them, there was a much deeper layer of irresistible attraction, which they could no longer deny. It was the sharp contrast between their fighting and their love-making that got him so out of control.

When he saw she felt the same, he knew he could just let himself go.

His lips crushed down on hers and his hands moved to her trouser button and then to her zipper. But before he was going to push her jeans down, he pulled her with him to the bedroom, not even bothering to close the door behind them. His kisses were frenzied and feverish. Every now and then he would place them on her neck and her ears, before returning to her mouth again.

When they bumped into the bed, Lisbon pushed him so he fell backwards, coming to lay down on the neatly made bed. Lisbon kicked out her shoes and crawled over him. In one swift motion, she pulled down his pants before she covered his nearly naked body with hers. She placed her hands to either side of his head, giving him a great view of her cleavage. When he looked back at her face, she leaned down to kiss him. He melted into her kiss and let his hands feel the curve her arched back was making. When he reached her butt, he found that her jeans made a gap due to her undone zipper. He let his hands glide under the waistband and cupped her buttocks. Lisbon started to play with the waistband of his boxer. It didn't take him long to get tired of her jeans so he pushed them down as far as he could, letting his hands roam over the soft skin of her legs. Lisbon kicked her jeans and socks off and dipped her fingers a little underneath his boxer briefs' waistband again. It was around his hipbone, but she could feel his body reacting strongly. She smiled against his mouth and slid her fingers up to his chest again. He was still feeling the newly naked skin of her legs and the bottom of her buttocks, enjoying every second of it. Lisbon slowed the pace of their kissing and let her fingers run through his hair. He stroke her back and arms. When he tried to get underneath her tight little black tank top again, Lisbon broke their kiss and got up while still straddling his hips with her thighs. She pulled the tank top over her head so sensually, Ardiles couldn't believe this was the same Lisbon that ran her own dysfunctional team at the CBI. He let his head fall back against his pillow and sighed, smiling admiringly at her. Lisbon watched his eyes going over her body, his desire for her very obvious. When he looked her back in the eye, she cocked her head to one side, causing her hair to fall to one shoulder. He touched it, stroking her cheek and letting his fingers run through her hair lovingly. When Lisbon smiled at him naughtily and tugged slightly at his boxers, he didn't wait any longer and put his hands on her shoulders to pull her down onto him. The kiss that followed soon transformed into a hot round of love making.

Afterwards, Lisbon laid next to him, her body curled around his and her head resting against his chest. He had his arm wrapped around her and was stroking her side. They were both out of breath and covered in sweat. Heat radiated from their bodies, which hummed with satisfaction. They were exhausted and the light, lingering sensation settling in them made them feel drowsy. Ardiles pulled the covers over them and soon after they fell asleep.

It must have been just before dawn when Lisbon woke to the tickling feeling of a finger gliding ever so slightly over her side, going from her hip to her waist to her breast. It was still dark, but Lisbon felt like she had slept for quite a while. She opened her eyes to see Ardiles, still half asleep, looking at her with a sleepy grin on his face. He leaned forward to give her a long, slow, sensual kiss. The sleep was still clouding their minds and when they closed their eyes during the kiss, they felt a blissful slumber starting to settle over them. Not bothering to think about what was happening, they let themselves be led by their feelings. So they kissed and cuddled, their hands stroking each other's bodies so lazily they would have fallen asleep if it wasn't for their arousal. After a little while, Ardiles crawled over her, his body covering hers, and started another round of sensual love making.


	10. Chapter 10

Distracted Chapter Ten:

The next time Lisbon woke, it was from a bright ray of sunshine falling on her face. It came from the living room and peeked through the small opening of the bedroom door. When Lisbon opened her eyes, she had to blink from the sudden brightness. She lay down perfectly still and waited for her orientation to set in.

It happened really fast once she glanced to her side and saw the sleeping form of a man with olive-colored skin and tussled, dark brown hair. She kept staring at him. Not because he looked incredibly hot, but because she was afraid that the movement of her head would wake him up, she told herself.

His naked upper body and the curvature of his butt were visible above his sheets and it reminded her of the events of last night. She realized she was naked as well.

Although it had been way too long since she had felt passion like that, although it had made her sleep so well she felt more rested than ever and although she grinned at the idea of having him lie naked beside her, she also felt really nervous. She should get dressed, she thought and tried to fight the panic that was kicking in. This shouldn't be so hard, she thought. It was her routine. She would always make sure she was at least half-decent before the guy would wake up and leave once she was completely dressed. There was never any cause to be nervous and she always managed to keep to awkwardness to a minimum.

She couldn't do it this time, she thought. She had absolutely _no idea_ how to handle this situation.

She still lay frozen in the same position and feverishly searched her mind for the solution.

Act as if she was still asleep and wait for him to wake up first? Wake him up now? Leave?

She was afraid that the wheels in her head were turning so hard the noise would wake him up. To calm herself, she tried to focus on her work at the CBI. She had everything under control there. They caught the killer, got three confessions and a happy prosecutor. Wainwright would be thoroughly satisfied with her repo… Shit.

She sighed desperately and tried to search for an alarm clock without waking Ardiles up. She couldn't find one. She let her body slide from underneath the covers before getting out of the bed. Tip-toeing around the room, she found a trail of clothes leading to the living room. Fishing hers from the floor, she quickly put them on and slipped out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her as far as possible, without it making a sound.

The view was still breathtaking, but when Lisbon took a moment to glance outside, she noticed that the sun was already much higher in the sky than she had hoped. Having no idea where or if there was a clock to be found in this apartment, Lisbon checked her phone and nearly stormed out without putting on the rest of her clothes when she saw that it was already 12:35 p.m.

Wainwright had made it so very clear to her that he expected an update on the case every day after the small incident where Jane punched Oscar. Normally, she would have done it yesterday, right after they got back to the CBI. She would have eaten a slice of case-closed pizza with the team and then she would have retreated to her office, writing the initial case report until it was finished so it would be waiting for Wainwright in his e-mail when he arrived at work today.

But she hadn't. She had gone home with Oscar Ardiles instead. And now she had less than three hours to finish the report and send it to Wainwright so he would still have half an hour to read it before he went home. She picked her shirt up from the heap it formed with Oscar's shirt and put it on. She had to leave, now, but hesitated what to do with the sleeping man that had been so loving and fond of her last night, but could just as well be so harsh to her that it appeared as if he didn't care for her at all. It all depended on how he was going to react when he woke up, but since she didn't know that on forehand, she had no idea as to what to do or say to him and had really no time left to figure it out. So walked over to the front door, patting her trouser pockets to make sure her keys and wallet were still there and put on her brandy colored ankle boots just before opening the door and slipping out without making a sound. She pulled the door close with the utmost care, slowing it when she let it fall back into the lock. She sighed, turned around and tip-toed to the elevator as fast as she could. She walked in and pressed the 'ground floor' button. She waited for the doors to close while she stared at Ardiles' front door. She noticed that an increasingly larger part of her wished that he would come out of it right now to get her back and to tell her to screw the report for today. But the elevator doors closed before anyone had come out, so she figured this was how it was going to be.

Once she got downstairs, she left the building and only outside dared to call a cab. The woman on the phone told her it would take some fifteen minutes for her cab to arrive, but she didn't mind. Although she knew precious time was wasting away, she needed some time to clear her head and she found the feeling of staring at the entrance of Ardiles' building, hoping he would come rushing through it, strangely comforting. _It could happen_, she kept telling herself. She had no idea what would happen next, after he had come rushing through. What she wanted from him or what he wanted from her. If it would be awkward or comforting.

She would have to think about that, because at some point, she was going to see him again. But now was not the time. She had to focus on getting her work done in time, putting all other things aside. That she had to work on a Sunday was her own fault, as was the fact that she had to work hard to finish it in time.

She thought about where she should go, straight to the CBI or go home first? She definitely needed to go home first. She needed to shower and put on fresh clothes, not in the least to prevent Jane from making annoying comments and asking inappropriate questions.

* * *

><p>It did take the cab fifteen minutes to show up and another fifteen to get to her house. She paid and got out, feeling strangely relieved to be home. She briefly checked her phone while she walked up to her front door to see if there were any messages left by perhaps Wainwright, or Ardiles.<p>

There were none, so she entered her house and sighed. She knew she was running out of time to write that stupid report, but she really had to shower before she could do anything else.

While she showered, she let herself think about the Ardiles situation. She had never been one to jump in the sack with just anybody, but this time, she knew things were different. The passion between them had been one that could only exists when two people really cared for each other. And she knew that was the case, because she had found that it had mattered to her that it was _him_ that was making love to her. That it had been _them_ who hadfinally connected so intensely. She knew this night would have implications. Not really wanting to think about those, she wondered how she had gotten to this point where she had no clue as to what the future would bring.

It had been because of their working arrangements. She had been totally unobservant of her own evolving feelings toward Oscar Ardiles. And even more so of his feelings for her. She had taken the matter all too lightly, just glad when they finally started to get along, and before she knew it she had found herself overwhelmed by the strongest desire between them. And she had given in to it, unaware of the fact that the next morning, she would be showering way too long while she had a report to write, thinking about what would happen next between him and her.

She dried herself and went to her bedroom to change into her comfortable clothes, knowing there was no use in trying to get to the CBI now. It would take far too long to get to the CBI, let alone to wait for a cab as well. So she went to sit at her kitchen table, her laptop in front of her and nothing but her memory to consult. Luckily, her status reports from the case were filed on her laptop as well, so with some luck, she could copy some parts from them. She would put more effort into writing the official case report, first thing tomorrow, but for now, this would have to do.

* * *

><p>While she was typing away as fast as she could, Ardiles woke slowly, with his internal clock telling him that it must be nearly two p.m. It was a Sunday, and on Sundays, his internal alarm never went off. He deserved it after waking up at six thirty from Monday to Friday. And yesterday as well.<p>

The events of yesterday raced through his mind, from him arriving at the CBI so early, to them following Martin Philips, to arresting the killer, to driving back, celebrating, to them going to a bar, to him dancing with Lisbon, to them leaving together, to them…

He rolled over to his other side and saw nothing. Well, rumpled sheets that indicated that there had been something before, but wasn't there anymore now. He felt more disappointed than a six-year-old finding no presents under the tree on Christmas.

He stared at the empty spot beside him for a while before he let his hand glide over it. It felt cold, so she must have gotten out of bed some time ago. He looked over at her night stand, and then rolled back to his other side to look at his, but found them as empty as always. A dreadful feeling started to settle in his stomach, but he got out of bed anyway. He searched the floor to find any piece of her garment left that would indicate that she was still there, but found none. He put his boxer briefs back on and threw the rest of his clothes on the bed. He walked into his living room and stared outside for a while. The sky was grey and one giant cloud after another came moving by. What a crappy day, he thought to himself. He heard nothing while he stood there, so there was no more hope that she was still in his apartment. Still, he walked around the room, perhaps finding a note somewhere. When he didn't find it on his table or the kitchen counters, his couch or his coffee table, he checked the glass shelf underneath the mirror in his bathroom and after that the cupboards in the kitchen. It wasn't there. She wasn't there.

She had left. She had left him. Both the fact and the thought hurt him badly. He pulled the curtain close and shuffled back to his bedroom. When he saw his pants lying on his bed, he pulled his cell phone from its pocket.

No messages. He let himself fall down on the bed and rolled over to the side where he wasn't lying on any clothes. He pulled the covers up and tried to get back to sleep again. But the sheets smelled of her and of her shampoo and a little of sex, so he couldn't find the peace of mind to fall asleep. Either that or the fact that he had been sleeping for ten hours.

After trying to fall asleep for a while longer, to no avail, he threw the covers from his body and jumped out of bed. The familiar feeling of agitation came rushing through his body and mind again. Without dressing first, he started to pull the dirty sheets from his bed and collected them in his laundry bag. He was sweating a little when he was finished and found that he liked the feeling of physical exercise. Deciding that he would go for a run, he grabbed his shorts and a t-shirt from his closet, put on some socks and found his running shoes next to the front door. He grabbed his laundry bag and detergent and put his cell phone and wallet in his pockets.

He went to a launderette a few blocks away. There was only one other man, reading his newspaper while he waited for his laundry to be ready. Ardiles put his sheets in the machine and filled it with a fair amount of detergent before he pressed for a long washing program. After putting some coins in, he hesitated what to do next. The weather outside seemed baleful, but having to spend an hour and thirty minutes, either here or at home, alone with his thoughts while waiting for his laundry to be ready, would be more disastrous to him than any weather condition. So he did a quick warming up and went outside.

While he was running as fast as he could, ignoring the squalls that were pulling the trees from one side to the other, he managed not to think about Lisbon. He ran as far as he could, sometimes resting in the nearly deserted parks, and he decided he liked the change of weather. When his internal clock told him it was time to go back, he was covered in sweat and out of breath, and he couldn't help but notice that it didn't feel nearly as good as when he was in the same state last night. He jogged the four miles back to the launderette and switched his laundry from the washing machine to a dryer. The drying would take another hour and a half, so he decided to go back home to shower.

He knew he had to stay busy, so before he went to shower, he called a cab that would take him to the CBI so he could take his own car back home.

The cab arrived just after he had tied the ties of his shoes. He had washed all the dirt from his body and had put on fresh clothes. While he had been combing his hair, he hadn't been able to stop staring in the mirror at the fading contusion around his eye. It was the last thing that reminded him of the strange reality that had been the last week. It was the last evidence of his week with Teresa Lisbon.

The cab brought him to the CBI and he knew he could be so close to her. He knew she could be up there, working behind her desk. He could go up to check if that was the case, but he didn't. Instead, he walked to the parking garage. He spotted his black Aston Martin soon, and wondered for a second if Teresa's car would be there as well. He refused to look around and drove home, picking up his dry laundry on his way back.

* * *

><p>While Ardiles spend his whole night making sure he wouldn't think about Teresa Lisbon, Jane did just the opposite. He had been waiting for her to come to her office all day. She was just too dutiful to not write the report in time. Unless Ardiles had convinced her not to care about work today… Jane had been running every scenario in his head, trying to figure out what was going on. When he spotted Ardiles walking to the parking garage, <em>alone<em>, he almost dared to hope that there was nothing going on between Ardiles and Lisbon.

He wasn't stupid, of course. He knew there was _something_ between them. But still, this was a far better sight than the last time he saw Ardiles.

He wished Lisbon would come to work. He wished she was there, with him. He could tease her about her _awful _choice in men, she would blush. He would make some personal observations that would make her blush even more and then he would show her that he forgave her, and she would look at him with the utmost relief in her eyes, as if nothing meant more to her than his opinion. As if nothing meant more to her than him.

But she hadn't come in today. It was too late now to have hope that she would come in before tomorrow. Wainwright had gone home long ago, so she either had finished her work somewhere else, or she hadn't finished it at all. He had no idea, because she wasn't there to ask her. Around twelve, he decided he should go to his bed and try to get some sleep. When he lay down and stared at the roof beams above his head, he found that if he had one wish for tomorrow, it would be that Lisbon would arrive at work as single and unattached to Ardiles as possible. As long as that would happen, he couldn't care if the day would be filled with paperwork, or if they had to suck up to the big guys, or whatever; he would undergo it all diligently.

* * *

><p>While he slowly drifted off, Lisbon lay in her bed, thinking about what tomorrow would bring. There were three guys she had to face sooner or later, and it struck her that the angry boss was the least of her problems. Not wanting to think about what she would do with the others, she hoped that the inspiration of the moment would help her out tomorrow. When she finally started to slumber, she wondered if Ardiles was thinking about her as well.<p>

And he was. He had spent all his waking hours trying to keep himself from thinking about her. But now he was lying in his fresh, clean bed, with absolutely nothing to reminded him of her, he couldn't stop thinking about her.

* * *

><p>It probably was a combination of the overdose of sleep she had had these past days, and the restlessness in her body that made Lisbon wake up an hour early. Not knowing what to do with this extra time, she decided to get to work early and prepare herself for what was to come. When she was all ready to leave, she searched her apartment for her car keys, only after a few minutes realizing that they were still at the CBI, as was her car. She sighed and called for a cab. While she waited for it, she stared outside her window. It was raining cats and dogs and the dark grey sky indicated that it would keep raining for quite a while. When the cab driver rang her doorbell, she checked if she had everything with her before she opened the door. When she walked out, she instantly felt that she was dressed far too coldly. There was an erratic wind, blowing the pouring rain against her from every direction. But she knew it was too late now to change her clothes. She had to get to the office before everyone else would, so she could settle in before she had to face them. Quickly, she ran to the car and got in.<p>

It took almost half an hour before they neared the CBI. They stopped at a parking space alongside the road a few yards from the building.

"We're here ma'am" the driver said.

Lisbon looked very displeased. "It's still 500 yards from here to the CBI entrance…" she said.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm not allowed past the barrier. And with this traffic, I can't stop in front of it…" he said apologetic.

Lisbon knew he had a point. "Right…" she sighed.

She paid the man and grabbed her bag. When she stepped out of the car, she knew she was never going to make it inside without getting completely soaked. She started to run towards the gatekeeper. She showed him her badge and it seemed as if he took extra long to examine it. Eventually, he nodded that she could go through, but at that point, it didn't matter anymore; she was already as wet as she could get. She walked across the parking lot to the entrance, where she could finally step out of the rain.

She walked to her office as fast as possible, not even bothering to check if Wainwright or Jane or anybody had arrived at work already. She went to sit behind her desk and sighed. This day had already started far worse than she expected, and she hadn't even tackled any of her problems yet. Deciding to focus on her work, she figured she should start writing an outstanding case report to show Wainwright. She had managed to finish the initial report in time yesterday, but she knew it wasn't very good. When she had started her computer, it immediately pinged to tell her she had mail. From Wainwright. Regarding her initial case report. As she expected, he wasn't too thrilled about it. Always trying to say something nice, though, he complimented her on how she had brought this case to a good end, satisfying all involved parties.

'_That is, if I managed to gather that correctly from your brief summary of the case' _Lisbon read at the end of the e-mail.

She sighed. What an awful day. She felt cold, and sad, and nervous and she had nothing to look forward to.

Just as she was looking down, willing the sadness to go away, she heard someone knock on her door.

"Enter" she heard herself say and her head shot up. She wished with all her heart that it was Cho, or Rigsby, or Van Pelt, but she knew it probably wasn't and she felt utterly unprepared.

Of course it wasn't Cho, Rigsby or Van Pelt. When she turned to face the door, she saw a suit-clad arm open it. She felt an overwhelmingly fluttery feeling in her stomach.

Ardiles stood in the door opening, staring down at Lisbon, who was looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes with something between panicky shock and hopeless desperation in her eyes. She was completely soaked. Her hair was curling from the dampness and her dark green blouse was sticking to her body, which in itself wasn't a bad sight, but combined with the sad look in her eyes and the corners of her mouth hanging down, her lips pursed like only she could, she just looked so frail and helpless. And that was bad, because it made him want to go over to her and hug her, offer her his jacket, kiss the sadness away, instead of showing her that as far as he was concerned, there was nothing between them. Like he intended.

"Hi…" she said softly and unsure.

He looked away and stared outside her office window, to prevent her sadness from ruining his plans.

"I just came from Wainwright…" he said surly.

Immediately, Lisbon had a flashback to Saturday night, when he was kissing her against his window-wall and told her to remind him to thank Wainwright. She knew this was totally _not _the right moment to be thinking about that, but she couldn't keep from blushing and knew from his look that when he noticed it, he was thinking about the same thing. He looked away again while he quickly continued his story.

"So I retrieved my complaint and he agreed that the work-shadowing is over" he said casually.

Lisbon had no idea how to respond. She hadn't figured that he would just ignore that they had slept together, or that he would ignore that she had left without telling him. But he was ignoring all that and it appeared that he wasn't aware of the fact that it was hurting Lisbon more than she had imagined.

She felt unprepared for his behavior and tried hard to keep her emotions under control.

"Thank you..." she eventually managed to say. He didn't even look at her.

"Yeah, well, I did it mostly for myself…" he answered immediately, not seeming the least bit shaken or affected by this. He had smiled a little while he said it, as if it was only natural for him to care only for himself. As if they were back to showing each other how much they disliked each other.

She wondered if he had just been acting more friendly last week because he wanted to get inside her pants.

She stayed silent after that, and thought about his behavior. While she looked at him, she hoped that he would show that he did care about her and what had happened between them. Eventually, he looked back at her. As soon as he did, he couldn't keep his casual façade up any longer.

Both of them hoped the other would speak up. Both of them hoped they would find a way to discuss what had happened and what they would do next. But they both were unable to see their own emotions reflected in each other's eyes, so they stayed silent.

Lisbon's lips parted at the same time Ardiles inhaled sharply, as if they were planning on saying something, but didn't.

Ardiles turned around and walked to the door. He had to work hard to keep from letting his head hang down. He grabbed the doorknob, but hesitated. He had just hoped and thought that she would speak up before he would leave. But she hadn't and he felt that he didn't want to give up just yet. He turned around and looked at her again. She still looked as frail and helpless and… _sad_ as she had when he had entered, perhaps even more.

"Have you… Have you been crying?" he asked as insecure as she had ever heard him.

"No…" she answered confused.

She saw the last bit of hope disappear from his eyes.

"I just thought… Your… makeup…" he said softly while he pointed to his cheekbone. Lisbon followed his example and touched the skin underneath her eyes. When she looked at her fingers, she saw mascara and knew it must have been smudged around her eyes.

"Oh… I think it's probably from the rain" she explained and tried to be as nice as possible, hoping he would stay a little longer.

"Right" Ardiles answered and looked down, as if he felt embarrassed. When Lisbon saw him pushing the door open, she had to fight not to jump up from her chair and ask him to stay. When he walked through the door, he turned around and looked at her with a cold, distant attitude.

"I hope you and your team have learned something from my presence and that we won't have to complain so much anymore" he said harshly. "Goodbye."

When he walked out, leaving Lisbon sad and upset, Jane came walking in, brushing past Ardiles. They look at each other, but their usual layer of competiveness was very thin and underneath defeat was clear on both of them. Lisbon had thought it would make her feel better to see them a little less competitive, but she just felt lousy.

Ardiles looked at Jane one more time, wishing he would be like him. Wishing he would be the guy that survived all the one night stands. The only guy Lisbon would always come back to and who would always know he mattered to her. But he wasn't that guy, so he walked away, determined to harden his heart even more.

When Jane watched him walk away, he raised his eyebrows and walked over to Lisbon's couch to lay down like some guard dog. He had caught the last words Ardiles said to Lisbon and wondered why he acted so harsh to her. Part of him wanted to smack him in the face again for just that and hug Lisbon to make her feel better, but his hurt feelings said that it was her own fault. He had hoped so badly that she wouldn't sleep with Ardiles. But she had, so now she should sort out her problems with him by herself. Suddenly he felt the need to hurt her a little like she had hurt him.

"You clearly know how to improve a relationship…" he said sarcastically and a little harsh, but he regretted it immediately after the words left his mouth.

Her heard Lisbon sigh and turned his head to look at her. She was rubbing her face and looked like she could start to cry any minute.

He desperately wanted to make her feel better, but he didn't know how. So he distracted her with talk about work and felt extremely thankful when he could help her with writing the official case report and other paperwork.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for them to get back to their old routine and soon it appeared as if Ardiles never came between them. It was just after they had finished the report and Jane was just thinking about how the wish he made last night had come true, when Rigsby came storming in. Jane had been in the brightest of spirits this morning, so he didn't catch the alarmed look on his face. Lisbon did though, because she still expected everything to go wrong that day.<p>

"Rigsby, what's wrong?" she asked.

Rigsby looked from her to Jane and back to her again, hesitating a little.

"There's been a murder… They think it was Red John…"

And just like that, the day completely turned around for Jane. The smile fell from his face and he felt an idiot for thinking he could have a good day for once. He felt an idiot for thinking his wish would be granted by whom- or whatever was up there, without letting him pay the price for it. Of course he was _never _going to get a break.

Lisbon hurried from behind her desk to the bullpen to find out more, but took a moment to look at Jane and saw that he was closing up again, no trace left of his good mood.

Jane hadn't looked at Lisbon. The last few days had just been too confusing to be thinking about her when he should prepare himself to work another Red John murder. When she had left her office, he closed his eyes. He didn't open them until Lisbon came walking back into her office, grabbing her gun and her other stuff.

"You coming?" she asked.

Jane stood up and walked out without saying anything.

He stayed silent during the ride as well. Lisbon knew it was no use to pressure him into talking. And even if it would help, at the moment, she just didn't dare to be the one to ask him to confide in her. For some strange reason, she feared she had hurt and betrayed him too much for that and wished more than ever that she hadn't. She glanced to her side for a moment to see him slumped against the door, staring outside the window. He had been so cheerful this morning, only to be sent back to that awful world Red John had created for him. Lisbon wondered if Red John had planned it that way.

At the same time, Jane was thinking along the same lines. They had literally _just_ finished up their previous case and were all free to focus all their attention on him. Their car stopped when they saw the yellow police tape in front of them and they got out. Cho saw them coming and walked towards them. They ducked underneath the police tape.

"Cho, what have we got?" Lisbon asked while they walked up to a large black, iron gate leading to a large estate. The long driveway behind the gate led to what looked like a classic built mansion. What was on the gate, however, was the reason why they were there. The shield that was build in the middle of the gate and usually showed the family weapon, was now covered in blood. It showed a perfect smiley face that nearly distracted all the attention from what was lying beneath it.

The dead body of a woman lay face down on the curb. Her right arm was stretched, as if she was reaching out in front of her. She was facing away from the gate. She wore a pair of jeans that looked like they were from the nineties and a loose fitting dark blue sweater. She wore white, plain loafers on her feet. Her hair was graying. From what Lisbon could tell on first sight, she must have been nearing her fifties.

She turned her attention towards Cho, who started to tell her the information he had gathered so far.

"Her name is Mary Chapman, age 43. Stabbed once in her chest, once in her stomach and once in her neck. Cause of death was the cut to her jugular. She was an inpatient of the mental facility here. She was brought here in 2001 after she confessed to the third Red John murder and was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia" Cho told her and Jane.

Jane didn't seem to be paying much attention, but went to investigate the smiley face on the shield and the body. Lisbon let him and looked back at Cho.

"So what's her connection to Red John? _If_ this really was Red John…"

"It was him!" Jane cut in while he took a close look at the victim's face.

"Okay" Lisbon said hesitantly. "How can you tell?"

Jane got up to look at her.

"I just know it" he said earnestly.

Lisbon would have challenged him in it if she hadn't felt the same thing about this case.

"Alright. So what's her connection to Red John?" she asked. "It seems a bit late for him to take revenge for her claiming his victim back in 2001…"

"Yes…" Jane agreed and thought for a while. "I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out" he said determined and Lisbon felt relieved that he was talking to her again.

"Alright. Cho, has somebody informed next of kin?" she asked.

"No, there's no one listed" he told her. Lisbon frowned. It was always sad when somebody died and no-one would miss them.

"So who found her?" she asked.

Cho pointed to a woman in nurse clothes, talking to a local police officer.

"Her name is Vivian Mayer. She came to work around ten and found the body lying here."

"Ten o'clock? And no-one had noticed the body before?" Lisbon asked incredulous.

"It appears so, Van Pelt and I are still interviewing the rest of the staff" Cho said.

"Good. You guys keep doing that and tell me if you find anything. Jane and I will go talk to Vivian."

Cho nodded and walked away. Lisbon called Jane and together they walked over to where Vivian Mayer was waiting for them.

"Mrs. Mayer, I'm agent Teresa Lisbon and this is my consultant Patrick Jane. We want to ask you some questions about this morning" Lisbon asked in her kindest voice.

"Sure" the older woman nodded. She seemed honestly upset.

"We were told you discovered the body this morning. Can you tell us what happened?"

Vivian glanced past them for a second to look over at the dead woman lying on the ground and nearly started to cry.

"It's okay" Lisbon said soothingly. "Were you very close to her?"

"Yes. Well, that is, she was a patient, and I never knew if she felt the same way, but I had the idea that we had a certain bond, you know?" Vivian told them. "I was already working here when she was just brought in. She was so unhappy back then. It was just after the onset of her schizophrenia and she wasn't on the right medication yet. In her first year with us, she did three suicide attempts. But the last few years, it had been going so well. She had accepted that her place was with us and seemed quite stable…"

Lisbon nodded empathically, but noticed that Jane was getting more and more agitated. She knew he wanted to ask her about Red John.

"Did anything change lately?" Lisbon asked.

Vivian didn't have to think long before answering.

"Yes. She was relapsing. When she came in, she kept saying she was or knew a murderer named Red John. We hadn't heard about him and figured it was either part of her paranoia, or she really was a murderer. In both cases she was best off with us. And when she stopped talking about it, we hadn't thought about it for years, until she started mentioning him again. It started again about nine months ago. She would tell other patients that she had killed a lot of people and that no-one was safe. We figured it couldn't be true, but just to be sure, we started to gather some information about this Red John. In fact, we had a meeting planned among the staff to discuss whether we should go to the police or not…"

"Why would you go to the police if you were sure she wasn't Red John?" Jane asked.

Vivian switched her attention from Lisbon to him.

"Because of all the details she knew! She would tell things about those horrible murders she just couldn't know."

"What kind of things?" Jane asked.

"Things like names, places, how many times the victims got stabbed, those kind of awful things…"

"Yes, that is indeed strange" Jane agreed. "But you don't have to worry, she wasn't Red John" he told her.

Lisbon looked at him in disapproval.

"Let's get back to our other questions" Lisbon tried to steer the conversation away from Red John for a moment to let Jane cool down. "Vivian, can you tell us what happened this morning when you found her?"

Vivian nodded. "Right, yes, sure. I had to work today at ten. I was a little late, so I was already searching through my purse for my ID-card while I drove up to the driveway. I stopped to open the gate with that card. You have to put it in front of the scanner and the gate will open. I looked in front of me and there I saw a red smiley face on our gate. Since I had been looking up that Red John, I instantly recognized it and freaked out. When I got out, I saw Mary lying on the ground. I noticed the blood in her clothes, but since there was no blood on the ground, I had hope she might be still alive. But I couldn't find a pulse. I freaked out and called 911."

"So you didn't see any blood other than that on Mary?" Lisbon asked.

Jane rolled his eyes. "Well of course there wasn't, Lisbon. Because Red John didn't kill her here. He brought her body here to make a statement. What that is, I don't know yet" he told her.

Lisbon frowned. Before she could form a reply though, Jane went on.

"So, Vivian, is there any other way she could have gathered that information? Internet, newspapers, anything?" he asked.

"Ehm, well, no, actually. We made sure of that. All those kind of media can have bad effects on some patients, so it's monitored very closely what someone does and doesn't see" she answered.

Jane looked a bit puzzled.

"Huh…"

Lisbon took this moment to regain her control over the situation.

"Are you finished now, Jane?" she asked. He looked over at her, seeming deep in thought.

"Yeah, sure…"

Lisbon thanked Vivian and asked her to call her if she had anything else relevant to the case.

When she and Jane walked away, he turned back suddenly.

"Ah, Vivian, one last question. Did Mary ever have any visitors?"

"Well, yes, her sister, Susan. She came one every two weeks. Actually, she was the only one to come visit her in all those years Mary had been with us…" she sad and started to sob.

Jane decided to give her a break and thanked her before walking towards Lisbon again. He would get back to this later on.

"So, a sister, huh?" Lisbon asked.

"Yeah, that is weird, seen as she has none. Who would pose as a crazy woman's sister?" he mused out loud.

The joy a puzzle gave him quickly vanished once he walked up again to the bloody face smiling at him.

_So the games have started again_, he thought and felt a tiring heaviness settle in his body.


	11. Chapter 11

Distracted Chapter Eleven:

After they went over some more things, Jane and Lisbon headed back to the CBI. Lisbon expected Jane to plop down on either his or her couch, but instead he went straight to his attic. She decided to let him and went to her office. She sat behind her desk for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. She knew that conventional police work probably wasn't going to get her Red John, but she had no other ideas so far. The team had told her what they had gathered from the personnel working at the mental facility. Everyone told the same things. Mary had been weird, like all of the patients, but had been doing better until a few months back. Still, no-one had thought that anything especially strange was going on, so they were all shocked that she was dead. The coroner had told her that time of death had to be somewhere between 4 and six a.m. According to the staff and their logs, no-one had entered or left the facility around that time. When they went over how the body got placed there, all stories checked out as well. The other staff members had started taking over from the night-shift from seven a.m. until eight thirty, but hadn't seen anything on the driveway. Vivian had been later than the others, because she had an appointment with her doctor for a rash-like spot on her arm which turned out to be a tick bite. She had to get her blood tested for possible Lyme's disease, so she had been running late. The head of the mental facility's security would send over the security footage from around that time, but Lisbon could already tell there would be no-one to be seen.

She sighed. This was going to be hard. Jane was going to be like a mental patient himself. Unpredictable, paranoid, irritable and maladjusted. Not to mention the mood swings.

Her train of thoughts stopped when she heard her computer ping that she had mail. Wainwright was satisfied with her official case report and would forget about her incomplete initial report. She could send it to the D.A. so they could start working on building their case.

The D.A. … Right. Talk about mood swings, she thought to herself. She knew Ardiles would be handling this case. And part of her did want to see him again, but a larger part felt way too hurt to admit it. When she thought about that morning she felt the same sadness return. She tried to will it away, telling herself she shouldn't care. He had always acted like this and she had never cared for it other than that it was just plain annoying. This time shouldn't be no different. She had made a mistake by sleeping with him, but at least she had spared herself the shame of waking up together.

It was to no avail. She still felt sad and couldn't help but think that it hadn't been a mistake to sleep with him. He had been so nice to her, they had gotten so close and intimate. She just couldn't believe he was back to being an ass again. She just couldn't believe she had been wrong about him.

But she had made a mistake, because right now she was close to tears, Ardiles was as annoyed with her as before the whole work shadowing and Jane didn't trust her, right when they were working a Red John case.

She looked around her office in displeasure. Sitting here wasn't going to get her anywhere. She got up, grabbed the file and walked out of her office. Van Pelt was typing away busily behind her computer.

"Van Pelt, you got anything yet?"

"No, boss, sorry. In California, there are seventeen Susan Chapmans registered that have the age to be the victim's sister. I'm checking them all, but at first sight none of them seem in any way related to her. I'll ask around and try some other databases though" she answered.

"Good, keep trying" Lisbon said while she walked towards the stairs that led to Jane's attic.

* * *

><p>Once she got there, she found him lying on his bed, instead of sitting at his desk as usual.<p>

"Hi" she said.

"Hey" he answered. "Have a seat"

Lisbon sat down at the chair behind his desk.

"So you got any breakthroughs yet?" she asked.

"No, what about you?" he asked.

"Me neither" she told him. "Do you have any idea as to why the body was placed there?"

"No" he answered. "Do you know anything about the sister?"

"No, Van Pelt is running her name through every database, but nothing has come up yet. Cho and Rigsby are currently interviewing everyone that had access to the victim's ward for the past month. They would call if they found something"

Jane had gotten up and sat on the edge of his bed. That crazy look started to form in his eyes again and Lisbon didn't like it one bit.

"No, no, that's of no use. We have to think like him. We have to find out what her connection was to him. I'm going back to the mental facility" he stated.

"No, Jane, you're not. They might as well keep you there when you're acting like this, and I couldn't blame them. We'll figure it out and tomorrow, we'll go back together" Lisbon said firmly.

"Lisbon! We're dealing with Red John here! We can't just wait for tomorrow..! The answer is at that mental facility!" Jane yelled.

"Jane, we'll handle this organized and structured. Wainwright has been watching my every move since you hit O- Ardiles" she said and colored a bright pink when she said his name and almost called him Oscar.

It didn't escape Jane. Of course it didn't. But he said nothing about it.

"I'm just not looking forward to another week of work shadowing, you understand?" she asked and hoped he would believe that that was the only reason for her wanting him to go at this like a sensible person.

Jane snorted sarcastically and it made Lisbon feel more awful and uncomfortable than ever.

"Please, Jane, just try to focus on finding out why he put the body there. If you come down you can go over all the information we've gathered so far. Perhaps something else will jump out to you…" Lisbon offered.

Jane wished that he could, but he felt unable to focus his thoughts on anything case-related. He knew he should be as rational as possible, but he just couldn't get past his self-pity. First, he had to watch Ardiles steal away Lisbon from him and now, when things were just getting back to normal, Red John decided to show up again. It was an ongoing emotional turmoil, so being rational proved to be very hard. He had to stay busy, physically. Because as soon as he started to think, his mind would drift to Lisbon and Ardiles. He hated that he had no idea what exactly was going on between them. For the first time, he had felt like Lisbon actually cared for a guy, but that loser had acted like a jerk to her. Why wouldn't she just treat him like the jackass he was and shut him up once and for all, like he knew she could. She should be there for _him_, not for a guy who treated everyone like crap.

"Well, I'm sorry, Lisbon, but how can I find out his motive if I have no idea as to what she had to do with him?!" Jane yelled again.

"_Now _you have a puzzle you can't figure out on your own?! You _always_ have a theory in your mind based on – I don't know – how long the victim's nails are, or what kind of eyebrows the people involved have! Why don't you use the information you've gathered this morning? We'll get more info soon enough. The forensics people are currently examining everything they find. Besides, you might find the answer somewhere else… I hate to be the one to say this, Jane, but has the thought occurred to you that this might have something to do with you? I mean, the last victims all had something to do with you. Could this be another message?" Lisbon asked.

Jane blinked. He looked so sad that Lisbon regretted nothing more in her life than those words.

"I'm sorry, Jane. I didn't mean to say it like that. Of course this has nothing to do with you, I just meant that normally you can figure out what Red John's motive was…" she rambled. She went quiet when she saw Jane standing up and walking to a wall to lean against it.

"I know what he meant" he said softly while he let his gaze wander over the floor .

Lisbon stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

"He wanted to let me know that if I ever try to escape the craziness that is his little game, people will die" Jane said.

For the first time since that Friday afternoon at the same attic, Jane looked her in the eyes and dared to show her what was going on inside him. It broke Lisbon's heart more than she could ever show. He looked so sad and uncharacteristically human. He wasn't strong or determined, hardened or obsessed. He was the same man that had told her he wanted to spend more time with her outside of work and had looked more intensely at her then, than any other man would after proposing to her.

Lisbon walked over to him. Standing close to him, she saw how badly he was struggling to keep himself together.

"Jane…" she said barely audible. She hated that as usual in these situations, she couldn't put her thoughts into words properly. But Jane knew her long enough to know what she meant when she said his last name like this.

"It's complicated, Lisbon…" he nearly whispered, his lack of energy clear. Lisbon knew that he didn't say it as way to avoid talking, more as an introduction to what was more to come. She figured it could be a while before he would continue this.

"I know" she said, hoping he would understand that she would keep supporting him no matter what.

They looked at each other and once again found themselves trapped in that moment that for all other couples led to the first kiss, except for them. They stood so close and stared so intensely at each other… When Jane swallowed from the emotion building inside him, all Lisbon had to do was lean forward and they would have kissed. Their faces mirrored each other's sadness and helplessness. Why was it, that while all they wanted was for each other to be happy, the never knew what to do in these situations?

Jane averted his gaze and looked at his feet. Lisbon feared once again their moment had passed. But to her surprise, Jane started to talk again.

"It's complicated" he repeated. "And believe me it's frustrating..!" he said while he looked her in the eyes again and tried to snicker. He failed at it, because the smile immediately fell from his lips.

Lisbon looked at him with something between concern and wonder in her eyes. She was completely caught up in the moment. This was new, she thought and she noticed she had no idea what she should expect from this. She had no idea what he was going to say or what the implications of his words would be. What would it mean for them? She tried to make this all about him, she would listen to him and offer him support, whatever he would say. It was a good thing that he was opening up. It was good for _him_. He needed to say what was on his mind, what he felt. She would be there _for him_.

But she noticed it wasn't entirely true. Of course, she would be there for him. Of course it was good that he finally said what was going on inside him. But he was saying it _to her_. He was sharing his deepest thoughts and feelings _with her_. Suddenly, Lisbon understood that it was impossible to see his feelings and thoughts separate from hers. Whatever he was going to say at this moment, would mean something to her. Whether they were ever going to act upon it or not, their thoughts and feelings had long been intimately intertwined. What he would tell her, would concern them both. While she tried to concentrate on making sure she would show the appropriate reaction to his revelations, she kept thinking that this might be the moment they had been working to all those years.

Jane wasn't oblivious to her reaction and it nearly made him cry. _Every time_, he thought. Every single time he needed her to be there for him, to listen to him, she would do it willingly. Every single time he had just a few words to share with her that would give some insight to how he felt, she would take them readily. No matter what happened between those moments. He felt as if they were back to that intense moment Friday afternoon, before he had screwed up, before she…

He couldn't believe he got a second chance. He had to give her more than just a pleading look. He had to show her he was worth the wait. So he started talking again.

"It's just… after all this time, we're just nowhere near the end… And it doesn't matter what I think or feel about it, because _he_ still decides everything. I'm stuck, Lisbon" he said, almost embarrassed that _this _was his life. That This was what was going on inside him. He kept staring at his feet and was silent for a while, trying to put the storm of thoughts and feelings going on inside him into words.

"I can't quit. I wish I could... 'Cause it's ruining _everything_..." His words came straight from his heart and while he said it, he looked Lisbon intensely in the eyes, showing her how much he suffered from all the consequences of haunting and being haunted by Red John. He hoped she understood that for him, _everything_ meant _everything that involved her_.

Lisbon did. To some level. It was enough for Jane, because he knew he shouldn't expect her to understand the depth of his feelings when even he was clueless.

Lisbon sighed sadly. It turned out that the moment they had been working to all those years, was the moment where they finally understood that they couldn't give each other what they needed.

He couldn't give her what she needed. He couldn't open up far enough to show her clearly how he felt about her. To tell her everything that went through his mind. He couldn't let her help him other than being the sidekick to his crazy plans. He couldn't let her into his life more than she was now, and it wasn't enough.

She couldn't give him what he needed, either. The pleading looks, the sad looks, the longing looks. He needed her to give him the idea that she would always be waiting for him. That there was a life for him after he killed Red John. He needed her to show him that he was the only one for her. That he was all she wanted, even with his idiotic stunts, his sudden departures, and the problems he caused her. That he was all she wanted, even when most of the time they would act as friends, and the most intimate they would get was those longing looks every now and then. He needed her to show him, that that was enough for her as it was now. But she couldn't do it.

Jane saw the utter disappointment and sadness on her face and he had no idea why. This was his second chance, he had done better this time, hadn't he? Why was she even more upset now than she had been Friday? Instead of just _telling_ her that he wanted to spend more time with her outside of work, he had _showed_ her that he wanted her more in his life. He had shared his thoughts and feelings, trying to explain how complicated everything was at this point, but that he hated how it hurt her every time. Surely she must have understood that that meant that he really cared for her?

Lisbon saw Jane's face and she knew he needed a reaction from her.

"We'll figure it out together" she whispered and wondered if this was her rational side saying what was best for Jane to hear, or if it were her emotions telling him how she truly felt.

Jane looked at her again. He had the same look he had after he told her he wanted to spend more time with outside of work, the same look he had just minutes ago when he told her it was complicated. He looked at her as if he wondered if, maybe even expected that they would kiss any minute now. Lisbon didn't share his look. She knew they wouldn't kiss now. Probably not ever. She looked down and clutched the file she was holding more firmly and it effectively broke the moment. Jane noticed it and looked at the file.

"What's that?" he asked.

Lisbon knew it was to break the awkward heaviness between them, but at that moment, she wished he had asked almost _anything _else.

"Eh. This is the report from the Fresno case…" she answered honestly, hoping he wouldn't ask further.

"What are you going to do with it?" he asked, but while he asked it, he saw Lisbon's face turning red with shame. "Oh" he said.

Lisbon didn't know where to look. She wished she would have just e-mailed Ardiles the report, or have somebody else bring it to him.

She knew that that would be unprofessional, but she would have taken unprofessional any time over Jane's next words.

"Well, I'll leave you to your work then."

Never before had anyone said anything so definite to her.

Jane had figured he would keep looking at the ground until she had left, but when she didn't move, he looked up at her. She looked so sad and helpless. Her eyes pleaded him not to be angry with her. Pleading him not to see this as a betrayal. She hesitated if she should say something, but couldn't find the words. She knew there was nothing left for her to do than to leave.

"Okay. If you need me, I'll be at my office…" she said and hoped he wouldn't need her for the next fifteen minutes or so.

She left his attic staring at the file she was holding and figured to get that over with as well.

* * *

><p>It was busy at the D.A.'s office. Some of Ardiles' colleagues were chatting and laughing together. A young woman got praised by two older men for winning a case. She didn't spot Ardiles though, so she went to ask one of the guys she remembered doing shots with Ardiles last week. Before she could speak, the man had made her the center of attention.<p>

"Agent Teresa Lisbon, hi!" he said cheerful.

Lisbon showed him a short smile, but didn't wait for him to start small-talking.

"Hi. Have you seen Ardiles?" she asked.

"Why does it have to be Ardiles? You guys aren't working together anymore, I heard. You can work with me now!" he said. For one brief moment Lisbon wondered if Ardiles had told this guy to keep her away from him.

"Sorry" she answered quasi-apologetic. "I have to give him this case file. He's prosecuting this case."

"Okay, well, you're going to regret turning a fun guy like me down, because you're getting Oscar the Grouch in return" he said and laughed, just like the other guys. But the "Oscar-the-Grouch-joke had lost all its charm for Lisbon.

"Right. So, where is he?" she asked, getting a little impatient.

"Mr. Moody has spent the entire day muttering in his cave. Seriously, he hasn't even put the lights on in his office…"

Lisbon thanked him and walked over to the dark office. She knocked on the door and waited for a reply. It didn't come, so she knocked again.

"Yes!" was the annoyed reply she got. She opened the door slowly and looked at him from the door opening. He didn't look up from his work.

"What is it?" he asked, still sounding utterly annoyed.

"I thought I'd bring you the case file-" she said and when he heard her voice his head shot up. "-personally" she added. He looked surprised.

"You can put it on my desk" he told her. Lisbon walked over to his desk and placed the file on top of a stack. Ardiles was looking at his work again.

"Yes?" he asked.

Lisbon decided she shouldn't allow them to get back to being unfriendly like this.

She thought about asking "how are you?" but went for a slightly less loaded question.

"How is your eye?" she asked.

He looked up at her, trying to scare her away with his look of annoyance and discontent.

"Bad" he answered.

"Do you want me to put some ointment on it? she asked, not the least bit affected by his efforts to scare her.

"No" he said.

"Some make up?" she asked, trying to figure out what he could want from her that made him less hostile. Apart from sex, though she wondered if he really would act like this if he wanted sex from her.

"No, _thank you_" he stated clearly, showing her that this conversation was over as far as he was concerned.

"Well, I hope it gets better soon" she said. "If you need any more information about this case, you can always come by my-"

"I'll send an e-mail" he said, cutting her short.

"Right…" Lisbon said and left his office. When she had shut the door behind her, Ardiles felt awful about the way he acted. He got up and walked over to the door. He hesitated for a moment. His feelings were arguing about what he should do.

His angry, hurt feelings told him to let her go, to not give a crap about her, that she deserved to be treated like this and that he should think about his pride.

_Some other feelings_ told him to go after her, to apologize, to explain everything and to try to win her over for good.

He opened his door a bit only to find her already gone.

* * *

><p>While Lisbon walked back to her office, her phone rang. Caller ID showed Wainwright. "Lisbon" she stated.<p>

"Agent Lisbon, hi. Where are you right now?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"I'm nearing my office as we speak" she answered and wondered what he wanted.

"Ah, that's great. I was hoping you could find some time to update me on the new Red John case…"

Lisbon halted. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Just when she thought this day couldn't get any worse…

It wasn't that she didn't like Wainwright, or that she was unwilling to do her job. But with the meager initial case report fresh on their minds, she wasn't looking forward to having to fill him in on their progress. Because frankly, right now this case was still a mess.

"Sure" she answered and checked her watch. It showed it was ten past five. Lisbon had really hoped to go home soon and get this terrible day over with ASAP. "I have time now, if that's alright?" she asked. Wainwright agreed so Lisbon started walking his way, preparing herself for what was to come.

* * *

><p>His door was open and his friendly eyes immediately spotted her when she stood in the door opening. He smiled and invited her in.<p>

"Lisbon, good you could come by so soon" he said and Lisbon walked over to his desk. She remembered she was here about a week and a half ago. Ardiles had been standing in the exact spot she was standing in now and when she had walked in he hadn't even looked at her so much he couldn't stand her. It felt as if_ months_ had passed since then…

Wainwright must have thought about the same thing.

"So, I spoke to A.D.A. Ardiles this morning. I'm glad things have changed between you two" he said with a child-like innocence. Still, Lisbon knew how smart he was and part of her feared that he knew perfectly well _what_ exactly had changed between them. She decided it was best to stay silent, so Wainwright continued.

"He told me he had really enjoyed working with you and felt that the past week had been really useful to him" he told her and Lisbon could have sworn that he put emphasis on 'working'. She still didn't say anything and just hoped she wasn't blushing.

"How have you experienced the last week?" he asked, so now Lisbon _had_ to answer.

"Yes, it was very useful…" she said as plainly as she could. Wainwright started to notice her lack of response.

"Okay, and do you think your relationship with him has changed now?" he asked.

Lisbon didn't really know where to look. She hesitated for a moment.

"Ehm… I guess…" she answered. Wainwright seemed surprised by her answer.

"Really? You don't think so? Because Ardiles really thought your working relationship had improved. He said he thought you were an outstanding agent. The finest he'd ever worked with, he said…" Wainwright told her and watched her while he said it as if he was conducting some kind of psychological experiment.

Lisbon noticed she had opened her mouth but didn't really know what to say.

"Oh…" was all she could come up with.

"Well, I guess, if he really feels that way…" she said a little later, but had no idea what should follow. She knew he must have put on an act this morning to get Wainwright to sign off on their work shadowing. If the way he acted today was any indication of how he really felt, well, then they would be work shadowing until they both retired. And in case of the small chance that he _did_ mean what he said, she had no idea of how she should react. Luckily, Wainwright responded quickly.

"Yes, I really think he does. He seemed quite genuine..!" Wainwright said as cheerful as he always got, proud of how well his work shadowing had turned out. Lisbon knew better, of course. Ardiles could act very well and he used it to manipulate people every day for his work in court. But still, Lisbon wondered just _how_ convincing he had been. She hesitated for a moment but couldn't stop herself from asking anyway.

"What… What else did he say..?" she asked quietly and a little embarrassed, both sounding _and_ feeling like a sixteen-year-old.

Wainwright didn't seem to think any of it and answered happily.

"Well, he said that he really enjoyed working with you and that he had the utmost respect for you. He said you were a very competent, responsible and considerate agent, and a really nice person. He even thanked me for suggesting this work shadowing..!" Wainwright ended proud as a peacock.

Lisbon immediately had a flashback to Saturday night.

"_Remind me to thank Wainwright"_

She couldn't help but smile.

"Well, I guess our working relationship really has improved then" Lisbon said, much to Wainwright's satisfaction.

"Good. Now, tell me about this new Red John case" he asked.

"The victim was a 43-year-old woman, Mary Chapman, that lived at the mental facility near where she was found. She was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia some eleven years ago, after she confessed to be the murderer of the third Red John victim. She turned out not to be the killer and was sent to this closed mental facility. No-one working there has seen or heard anything strange around the time of her murder. We're checking their alibi's now. Cho and Rigsby are interviewing everyone who had access to the victim's ward and Van Pelt is trying to locate the mystery woman that visited the victim every two weeks. Everyone at the facility thought she was her sister, but there are no records of her having a sister" Lisbon told him.

Wainwright listened and frowned.

"Do you have any idea yet what her connection was to Red John?" he asked.

Lisbon started to look a little apologetic. "No, sir, not yet. But that is our top priority right now, as well as finding the 'sister'"

Wainwright nodded. "Good, keep up the good work, Lisbon. And let me know as soon as you find anything substantial" he said.

"Yes, sir" Lisbon answered and turned to leave.

"Oh, one more thing. How is Jane doing? Is he holding up?" he asked sympathetically.

Lisbon hesitated. "He's… o.k., I think" she answered.

Wainwright seemed as if he was about to say something he didn't particularly like.

"It's just, I fear that he might be spiraling out of control, you know? With that whole thing with Ardiles last week, and now Red John… I fear he might not be able to keep it together and if that happens, there might be dramatic consequences" he said.

"Of course Jane feels a bit more troubled right now. But I don't think it will affect how he's going to handle this case, so you don't have to worry about any dramatic consequences. At least not more dramatic than we're used from him" she answered.

Little did she know that 'dramatic consequences' was exactly the right description of what was in store for them.

"Okay, well, keep an eye on him for me" Wainwright said. "I hate to see him so… alone."

"Yeah, me too" Lisbon answered and thought about what had transpired between them this afternoon.

* * *

><p>After that, Lisbon left and found Cho and Rigsby back at the office. They were talking to Van Pelt, but Jane was nowhere to be seen. Lisbon decided one last update for the day couldn't hurt.<p>

They told her that the address and phone number left by the victim's 'sister' were dead ends and the other patients couldn't give them anything useful. Some of them were actually pretty scared by her stories, but none of them actually believed them. They said that Mary was always glad to see her sister and that her sister would spend the entire day alone with her whenever she came.

Lisbon told them what she had heard from Forensics. The bloody knife that was found near the body contained only Mary's finger prints.

Van Pelt still hadn't been able to find the sister and suggested that 'Susan Chapman' may even be an alias. She also had watched the CCTV footage from the mental facility, but hadn't found anything useful. The footage from the camera at the driveway from around ten fifteen a.m. showed nothing. The camera would turn away to show the other corner of the driveway and when he turned back, there was the body. Just as everyone had expected.

They all were silent for a while, not knowing what their next move should be. After so many Red John cases, they simply ran out of clever ideas of catching him.

"What if" Rigsby suddenly said, "Mary killed herself? I mean she was schizophrenic, right? What if _somehow_ Red John was her alter ego, her second personality. Or at least she thought it was. She did have a history of suicide attempts and lately she had started talking more about Red John again, right? What if she cut herself open, made the smiley face with her blood and then killed herself? What if Red John didn't aggravated her illness, but her illness aggravated 'Red John'?" he ended, excited by his own theory.

"I can't begin to tell you how stupid that theory sound" they suddenly heard Jane say. "For starters, schizophrenia is _not_ split personality disorder. You should never try your hand at psychology, Rigsby" he said a little harshly.

Lisbon knew it was from spending all afternoon mulling over the same dark thoughts over and over again.

"So, what do you think?" she asked him. He looked at her.

"I have no idea" he said and Rigsby snorted.

In truth, Jane _had_ been mulling over dark thought all afternoon. They just weren't about this case. He thought about why Lisbon had been disappointed after he confessed his feelings to her. Well, some of them. And he thought about her going to visit Ardiles again. For the first time, he felt that he wasn't just watching other men chase her, but her chasing another man. And then he thought about those moments between him and Lisbon that led him to believe that he wasn't just imagining that there was something far more than friendship going on between them. And that that was part of the reason why it hurt so much when she showed an interest in another guy.

"_If you need me, I'll be at my office"_ she had said to him. When she hadn't gone back to her office after she had left his attic, he had known she was going to Ardiles. Her office had stayed empty for over forty minutes, before she had come back and started discussing the case with the team and Rigsby proposed a ridiculous theory.

* * *

><p>The team stayed at work after hours, trying to come up with a plan that would get them Red John. Or at least get them the mystery woman. In the end, all they could come up with was having another look at Mary's room and ward, in the hope of finding a picture of her sister or other clues. Eventually, on by one the others started to leave for the night. Lisbon stayed, even after they had officially ran out of things to say about the case.<p>

Jane lay down on his couch and Lisbon sat in an office chair opposed to him. He had been watching her shamelessly and she had known it, but that was the kind of relationship they had these days. He could look longingly at her, lust after her as much as he wanted, because they both knew it wouldn't mean the same as in any other relationship. He would never act upon it, because he couldn't even manage to tell her out loud that he like her, that he cared for her. Only when she had started spinning the chair around, he had averted his eyes to avoid getting nauseous.

But he couldn't keep from looking at her for long. The view was just too good. Beside the fact that she was unbelievably beautiful, she also looked so funny in that chair that was too big for her, her feet just barely touching the ground, spinning the chair round and round like crazy, with the most earnest look on her face. He kept watching her and felt happy every time the she would come to face him again. She would come back, every time, he thought to himself and felt a little bit more at ease. Just when he started to get really nauseous, she halted the chair with a sudden stop.

"I'll order us something to eat" she said and grabbed her phone.

They ate their Chinese and chatted about how relatively well-behaved Jane had been today, and about how awkward it had been between Rigsby and Van Pelt, carefully ignoring what was going on with them and Ardiles in the process.

After their dinner they tried hard to find another subject to talk about that wouldn't lead to awkward moments, but after discussing whether Jane's couch or Lisbon's bed lay better and Jane nearly asked if that was an invitation, they figured they couldn't do it anymore tonight.

"What are you still doing here, by the way, it's late" Jane said, letting Lisbon off the hook. Lisbon could have just said yes and gone home, but she knew Jane was somewhat troubled today. And even though she had learned today that they probably would never end up together and she should better distance herself a bit from him, she had promised Wainwright to keep an eye on him.

"I know, but I just thought, perhaps you would like me to stay with you?" she said and felt that _again_ she had accidentally said something awkward. But Jane didn't really notice it. He was just thinking that he was a fool for believing that he would never get any competition when it involved a woman like this.

Yes, he thought, I would like you to stay with me.

"No, there's no need. I'll be fine" he said trying to sound like his usual chipper self.

"Are you sure?" Lisbon asked.

No! he thought.

"Yes" he said.

"Because I know there's no _need_ for it, I just thought perhaps you would like it?"

YES! Yes, I would like that. It's _all_ I want, he thought.

"No, it's o.k. I think I just need to be alone for a while anyway" he said and sure enough Lisbon got up from her chair.

NO! he thought.

While she started to grab her stuff, all he could think of were ways to let her stay. She walked away from him and spent some time in her office before she turned out the lights and walked back to him. She had her bag and her coat in her hand and stood next to his head. He looked up at her and she looked down at him. Sometimes, she would squat down beside him. He liked that. But she didn't do it this time.

Jane looked at her free hand. He could grab it and pull her down next to him, so she would lie with him on the couch. He would have liked that as well. But he didn't dare to do it.

"Well, goodnight, Jane. I'll see you tomorrow" she said.

"Yes, tomorrow. Goodnight, Teresa" he said.

Lisbon left with the same sad feeling that had been present on and off all day. She arrived home around ten o'clock and decided to go straight to bed. While she lay there and tried to fall asleep – she was tired enough for it – she thought about how she got in this ridiculous situation. It wasn't that she never had gotten male attention before, but she just wasn't used to being the girl guys are fighting over. Never before had she been the center of so much attention. Never before did it matter to more than one guy if she liked him or not. Never before did she have to choose between two guys.

The problem was, neither Ardiles nor Jane had shown her in any way that they would be her lover once she had chosen him.

But the solution hadn't proven to be choosing neither one of them. It had led to them both feeling hurt and rejecting her as a friend.

How much she may have wanted it, this situation wasn't going to solve itself, she feared. And she was right about that.


	12. Chapter 12

Distracted Chapter Twelve:

"Well, there you go, do your thing!" Lisbon told Jane. They were standing at the entrance of the victim's ward after they had driven up to the facility very early that morning. Lisbon waited for Jane to start analyzing clues since he had been so eager yesterday to go over Mary's stuff once more. Jane looked around the room and hesitated a moment before he stepped inside. It was true that he had wanted to go over Mary's room once more, but it had mostly been to keep his mind focused on this case. There really wasn't much to see in the room. It was small, with room for a single bed and a nightstand, a closet and a desk. The view from the small window showed the neatly-mowed lawn next to the driveway that ended with the large steel gate. The walls of her room were a soft white, the sheets on her bed a washed out pink. Jane had checked her closet yesterday. It only contained six of the same nineties style jeans she had worn on the day she was murdered, thirteen wide t-shirts and five hooded sweaters. The drawers on the bottom of the closet were filled with white socks and underwear, and just like the rest of the room, it didn't tell him anything about her.

He walked over to her desk. It was empty. On the desktop were some scratches and small indentations visible. Upon closer examination, they appeared to be letters. She had been writing behind her desk.

"Lisbon, could you get one of Mary's caretakers for me please?" he asked.

"Sure" Lisbon said and walked out.

Truth be told, Jane was glad he had found something that could tell them more about the victim, not in the least bit because he found it crucial to keep impressing Lisbon in hopes of at least making her forget Ardiles.

Soon, Lisbon returned with one of Mary's caretakers. The man looked nervous. Jane introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Patrick Jane, and you are?"

"My name is Luke, I work at the ward where Mary lived…" he answered.

"Great! Luke, I have a question for you. Mary wrote things, am I right?" he asked.

Luke seemed to be getting more nervous.

"Not really…" he answered.

Jane sighed.

"Then what caused the indentations in her desk?" he asked.

Luke closed his eyes for a second and decided he should better come clean.

"Right, well, I guess she sometimes wrote letters…" he told them.

"To whom?" Lisbon asked, getting more curious.

"To her sister, Susan" Luke said switching his attention to her.

"Really?" Jane asked. "What did she write about?"

Luke hesitated and got even more nervous.

"I… I don't know..!"

Jane didn't buy it.

"Come on, she wasn't able to post a letter on her own. She would need paper, an envelope, stamps. And she wouldn't be able to mail it herself. So I think she had to give it to you, her caretakers, so you would take care of it. And you would read them, just to make sure she didn't write things that would unnecessarily upset the world. Tell me what she wrote" Jane asked again.

"Well, okay, okay..!" Luke said reluctantly. "She would write things about how she hated that we didn't understand her, and that she hated that the world was so stupid. And sometimes… sometimes she wrote about Red John. At first that she would like to meet him, but later she said she wanted nothing more to do with it. That it scared her."

Jane looked over at Lisbon. She had that look in her eyes when she got passionate about her job.

"Why didn't you report it to the police?!" Lisbon asked.

Luke looked at her and had to look down from the intense frown he got from her in return.

"Well, I don't think it really would have mattered. You should know it wasn't as simple as that with a schizophrenic. This is just my interpretation from what I've read. Nothing was what it seemed with her. She could barely understand herself. Her thinking was confused. At first I tried to take her serious. She seemed to be saying all kind of deep things, but they were meaningless most of the time. She had a lot of hallucinations and often thought people were out to get her. Her speech was like a word salad, she was very incoherent and often forgot what she had been saying. All that is very common in schizophrenic patients, so we didn't think much of it. Especially since she was send here because of her obsession with Red John."

"Really? What was that?" Lisbon asked, intrigued.

"Ehm, I don't know, I've just been here for four years. All I know is that she would mention him a lot. Us caretakers don't really need to know all the police stuff that precedes them coming here. All we care about is what her condition was and how far it had progressed. That's why there are only files here from the forensic psychiatrist and not from the trial."

"Right" Lisbon said, lost in thoughts. Jane decided he could take over from here without ruining her moment.

"So what _did_ she do all day? I mean, when she was in her room?"

Luke shrugged. "I guess she would mostly just lie over there" he said, pointing to her bed. "She wasn't sleeping, she would just stare at the ceiling all day. But I wouldn't read too much into that, I mean, who knows what was going on inside her head…"

Lisbon didn't particularly like his uncaring attitude.

"Didn't you ever try to do something with her? Get her to leave her room for a while?" she asked.

"Sure!" Luke immediately responded, sensing her dislike. "We tried lots of things, but she never really wanted to do anything. Only when her sister came to visit did she leave the room willingly, but even then they would always spend hours in here as well."

"Did Mary happen to have a picture, or a card or anything from her sister in her room?" Lisbon asked.

"No, no, her room always looked like this…" Luke told them and the three of them looked around the bleak room, lacking any personal touches and sighed.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Luke asked eventually.

"Thank you, this'll be all for now" Lisbon said when Jane stayed silent. "But we might need you to give our sketch artist an description of what Mary's sister Susan looked like."

"Sure" Luke said and left the room.

Jane, in the mean time, had lain down on the bed, staring at the ceiling just as Mary must have done.

"So?" Lisbon asked.

"We have to read those letters she sent to 'the sister'" he said.

"I agree, but to be able to do that, we first have to find out who she is. You said you might learn more about her when you visited Mary's room again, so… Are those white, cardboard ceiling tiles telling you anything?" Lisbon asked sarcastically.

"No, as a matter of fact they don't" Jane responded while averting his gaze from the ceiling, but carefully avoided looking at Lisbon. He hated that he hadn't figured out more about this case yet, and not only because he wasn't getting any closer to Red John.

Because while all he wanted to do is cause a major breakthrough to make Lisbon forget Ardiles, he wasn't able to focus on anything else than them being together or not and it was frustrating as hell.

He jumped up from the bed and walked briskly past Lisbon to leave the room. Surprised by his sudden departure, Lisbon sighed and rolled her eyes before hurrying after him.

"So?" she asked

"So, what?" Jane responded without looking at her.

"So, what did you learn?" she asked.

"Well, if I had anything, don't you think I would've told you?" he responded harshly, frustration clear in his voice.

"It wouldn't have been the first time you 'forgot' to share your information with me…" Lisbon muttered.

Jane just picked up his pace, trying to ignore her, but Lisbon caught up with him and grasped his arm, bringing him to a halt.

He sighed annoyed and turned around to look at her.

"Jane, I know it is hard for you to work a Red John case and I know you want to solve this case more than anything – I do too…" she said and looked at him empathically, her big eyes looking straight into his.

"But running around like a madman isn't getting you anywhere. We have to think about how we're going to handle this case if we ever want to solve it."

Jane sighed again.

"Yeah, I know. So, what do you propose?" he asked, still not looking at her.

"Well, let's go back to the CBI. I'll see if I can find anything from her trial. You should do what you normally do, you know, think… about things" Lisbon said, hoping he would go back to being his usual self.

"Sure" Jane answered and together they walked towards the car.

"I did think of one little thing, by the way…" he said when they were outside.

"Really? What was it?" Lisbon asked curiously.

"Well, that 'sister' didn't really care for Mary, or else she would have given her a photo, or a postcard, or flowers… Anything really. But she didn't, so she must have had an alternative reason for coming to visit her twice a month."

"You think she was stealing drugs from the facility?" Lisbon asked.

"I don't know yet" Jane told her honestly.

* * *

><p>They drove back in silence. When they arrived at the bullpen, Jane hesitated. He looked at Lisbon, hoping she would retreat to her office so he could follow and spend the afternoon with her. Instead, she walked over to the table Rigsby and Van Pelt were seated at, reviewing evidence.<p>

"Hey, any news?" she asked them and noticed they were sitting as far away from each other as possible.

"Autopsy report is in" Rigsby said.

"And the tech guys have determined where the victim must have been killed" Van Pelt added.

Lisbon looked at the table that was covered with reports and files.

"I'll read those later. Van Pelt, were you able to find our Susan Chapman?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'm sorry boss, it must have been an alias…" she answered apologetic.

Lisbon frowned and stared ahead, determining what to do next. She snapped out of it when Jane grabbed a chair and went to sit at the table as well, instead of throwing himself on his couch.

Jane noticed the surprised look Lisbon gave him, but didn't respond. The last thing he needed right now was to lie down on his couch, apart from the others, left alone with his thoughts. Nothing productive would come from that.

He wanted to explain to Lisbon that when he was alone he couldn't stop thinking about her… and Ardiles. That he had to work hard to keep his thoughts occupied with the case. He wanted to explain it to her, really, but on the other hand, he really _didn't_ want to.

So he kept staring at the autopsy report in front of him, ignoring Lisbon's stare.

Eventually, she looked away.

"I'm going to see if I can find more information on the victim's trial, perhaps it'll tell us more about her connection to Red John" she said.

Jane looked at her, wishing the thought of her going to find _that_ information wouldn't distract him so much. He hoped to catch a glimpse of her face, hoped that it would soothe his mind, but she had already turned to leave.

* * *

><p>While Lisbon walked over to the D.A.'s office, her thoughts were racing as well. It had seemed like a good idea at first, but now she started to doubt whether this was a clever thing to do. It could lead to an important breakthrough, she told herself. She needed to do it, for Jane, she told herself. It <em>was<em> a clever thing to do, the right thing to do at least, but just thinking about Ardiles behavior with her yesterday made her hurt too much to appear brave when she entered the bullpen of the D.A.'s office.

She stood at the entrance for what seemed like an eternity, looking around the room in hopes of spotting Ardiles. When she walked up to stand in the middle, she glanced at Ardiles' office window and saw him looking back at her. They held each other's stare for a while, but when Lisbon prepared herself to walk over to him, he broke their eye-contact and pretended to be busy working and talking on the phone.

A little taken aback by his hurtful behavior, Lisbon decided she should find another way of getting information on Mary Chapman's case and turned to leave. Just then one of Ardiles' colleagues came walking up to her, a friendly smile on his face.

"Agent Lisbon, can I help you with something?" he asked.

Lisbon turned towards him, glad someone offered to help her after all.

"Stevens, hi. As a matter of fact, I think you might" she said while she handed him the sheet of information on their victim.

"This is our current Red John victim. She was sent to a mental facility in 2002, after her trial. She had confessed to being Red John, but it turned out she wasn't and that she was a schizophrenic. The mental institution didn't have the files from her trial, but I was wondering if maybe you could find them somewhere for me? Anything about her will do, really" she told him.

Steve scanned the sheet and nodded. "Sure, I'll see what I can do. It's a long time ago though. Officially, we have to keep most information for fifteen years, but I didn't even work here ten years ago, so I have no idea where to start looking. But I'll do my best" he concluded.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it!" Lisbon said gratefully. "Let me know when you find something, my number is on it as well" she said, pointing towards the paper Stevens was holding.

"No problem" he said friendly and walked away studying the information on the sheet.

Lisbon felt a little more at ease knowing she still had friends at the D.A.'s office and walked away feeling as if a little weight had lifted from her shoulders.

Just when she entered the corridor connecting the D.A.'s office to the CBI, she heard someone walking up to her in a fast pace. When she turned around she looked straight into a pair of dark brown eyes.

Lisbon noticed he must have walked fast. She also noticed they were completely alone.

His brow showed the same frown it had always had before last week.

They stared at each other in silence for a while, and she half-expected him to leave without ever saying anything, but eventually he did speak up.

"What did Stevens want?" Ardiles asked.

Lisbon wanted to sigh, shake her head, roll her eyes or maybe even walk away. She did none of that.

"I asked him to check something for me" she answered instead.

Ardiles noticed her reserved attitude nevertheless and averted his eyes.

"Hm. Okay. Right" he mumbled before he turned around and left as suddenly as he had appeared.

Lisbon shrugged and walked back to the CBI.

* * *

><p>When she arrived back at the bullpen, she found Jane lying on his couch with the case file on his stomach. He seemed deep in thought, so Lisbon decided not to disturb him.<p>

Jane had been shaken out if his reverie when the object of his pondering walked back into the bullpen. She went to sit at the table with Rigsby and Van Pelt when they asked if she managed to get anything useful from the D.A.'s office. He heard her answer that she hoped they would be able to give her anything by tomorrow, which Jane for some reason thought to be a good thing, because if Ardiles and she were back to being… 'friendly', he would have made sure she would get all the necessary documents _today_. This news led him back to the thoughts that had previously occupied his mind.

Because he _had _been deep in thought, but try as he might, he couldn't keep his thoughts focused on the case. Well, to some degree they were. But more so his thoughts were about Lisbon. And Ardiles. And of his own part in all this, and how everything seemed to be connected these days. It was all things all at once.

Lisbon didn't come over to him. She sat for a little while longer with Rigsby and Van Pelt before she retrieved to her office. It wasn't like he wanted her to come over to him anyway, because all he really wanted was to figure this case out to bring him closer to catching Red John. The only problem was that his mind couldn't stay focused due to the aching desire to be around Lisbon and maybe even ask her about her trip to the D.A.'s office, though he knew she hated that.

After a while he started to feel particularly lonely and frustrated by his inability to keep those thoughts from his mind. He figured he would go over to Lisbon and just plain tell her that her relationship with Ardiles was bothering him, or at least ask her what her relationship with Ardiles was at the moment. Or _at least_ be around her for the remainder of the day.

He tossed the case file away and walked up to Lisbon's office. He entered without knocking, determined to get as close to her as possible, only to find that Ardiles had beat him to it, _again_.

Lisbon and Ardiles were standing next to each other in front of Lisbon's desk, bending over the case file she held in her hands. Ardiles leaned in so close their conversation was nearly whispered.

Both their heads shot up when Jane entered, but they appeared to have been semi-expecting him. Though the look on their face wasn't one of shock or shame, it didn't make him feel better one bit. Just seeing them together again made him feel agitated and unable to think clearly. And exactly that frustrated him to no end. If it were up to him, he would solely focus on catching Red John and not give a crap about what other people did. Lisbon and Ardiles could be inseparable for all he cared. But it _was_ up to him, and somehow he _did _care about what Lisbon and Ardiles did. And somehow that proved to be more important than hunting down Red John _every single time_. For the life of him, he could not understand himself one bit and he didn't want to think about it. At all.

"Ardiles..!" he said somewhat surprised and not at all as sarcastic as he had hoped.

Ardiles turned away from Lisbon to face him. Before he could start, Lisbon quickly interrupted.

"Jane, you have to see this! This is the complete case file from Mary Chapman's prosecution!" she said enthusiastically, eagerly looking from him to Ardiles and quickly back to him.

Jane looked skeptically at the pair in front of him. Eventually, he averted his eyes from Ardiles to Lisbon, who was handing him the case file. He took it and started to read.

"They mention a sister named Susan as well, but her last name is covered, so it suggests that she has a different last name than her sister" Lisbon continued hopeful.

Jane looked up.

"Where did you get this?" he asked her.

"Ardiles just brought it to me, luckily they still kept this on file at the D.A.'s office's archive" Lisbon answered.

"Really now…" Jane mumbled while he tried to focus his thoughts on the text in front of him. Lisbon pursed her lips and waited for him to comment on what the file said. When it stayed silent in the room, she figured she owed Ardiles a thanks.

"Listen, Oscar, thank you very much. This is a really big help. I can't believe that you found this so quickly..!" she said sincerely and heard Jane puff or maybe just cough.

Ardiles didn't change his stoic expression.

"You're welcome. I figured it was rather important. Good thing they kept so much on file from this case. There's a psychological evaluation of the victim somewhere in there as well. I believe they built the case largely on the sister's testimony, so that makes the sister even more suspicious, I reckon" he said.

Lisbon nodded.

"Yeah, we definitely have to find out who she is. Perhaps she knows what Mary had to do with Red John" she said, trying to involve Jane in the conversation as well. It didn't work though. He kept staring at the case file, seemingly lost in thought.

And he _was_ lost in thought. No matter how hard he tried to think all this new information through, it was to no avail. He knew if he could just focus on the case he could have some epiphany within the minute, but he couldn't. He heard Lisbon and Ardiles talk and talk and all he could think was that Ardiles was a much safer choice for Lisbon than him. With Red John still around and active again, his mind kept drifting to what would happen to Lisbon if he were to have feelings for her. But as soon as he drew the conclusion that Lisbon may really be better off with Ardiles, he felt a huge sting of jealousy.

"What I don't understand" Ardiles said, "is why Red John chose to kill her now, instead of all those years ago. I doubt that he felt that she was able to compromise his identity, because no-one believed her stories anyway…"

Lisbon felt relieved that they were able to work together again in a somewhat friendly manner.

"I don't know, he may still have been angry with her for saying that she was Red John when she clearly wasn't. Maybe this was some form of revenge" she mused out loud.

Ardiles frowned. "No, I don't think so. I think if that was the case, he would have killed her much earlier."

"Well, maybe he wasn't able to kill her, since she was locked up at that mental facility almost immediately after she told the police she was responsible for the Red John murders" Lisbon said.

"_Of course_ he would be able to kill her if he wanted to! He did it this time without any problems, and he could have done it then just as easily" Jane suddenly stated with annoyance clear in his voice. He looked up at Lisbon and Ardiles.

"I'm going to read this at my attic" he said and left the room without saying anything else.

Lisbon and Ardiles chose not to comment on his behavior but continued their conversation.

"Maybe he just felt like he didn't have to kill her back then, I mean, with her in a mental facility, everyone would take her even less seriously than when she was dead" Ardiles opted.

"That's true" Lisbon said. "So what has changed since then?"

Ardiles shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you can find some clues in the file from her trial. And you should really try to find her sister, she might be in danger or maybe even working with Red John herself" he said.

Lisbon kept looking at him, lost in thought, already one step ahead trying to find a way to identify the sister. Only when Ardiles started to talk did she realize she had been staring.

"Something the matter, agent Lisbon?" he asked sarcastically, without breaking their eye-contact.

Lisbon shook her head and looked away. "No, sorry, I was thinking about the sister's last name. Do you have any idea who could have erased it from the file?" she asked without paying attention to the fact that they had been staring at each other.

Ardiles sighed inaudibly and looked down, almost disappointed that she only seemed to want to talk about work.

"I have no idea. I guess they would have to have a high security clearance, but I can't imagine why Susan's last name had to be deleted from the file…" he said.

"Yeah, me neither. Well, I guess I'll start by trying to figure that out. Thank you for the file" Lisbon said, ready to get back to work.

"Right. No problem, any time…" Ardiles said while Lisbon made her way to the door, planning on discussing this new information with the team. When she looked back at him, he seemed hesitant.

"Listen, there was something else" he started and Lisbon felt that familiar blush creeping up again.

"Look," he tried again and reached inside his jacket to fish something from his inside pocket.

"The D.A. wanted me to give this to you. I guess since you've worked closely with our department lately and because of all that stuff with improving the relationship between the CBI and the D.A.'s office… I haven't had the chance to give it to you sooner and I've already told the D.A. that you most likely won't be able to come, with it being on such short notice and the Red John case and all, but he said he would really appreciate it if you could stop by anyway, so…" he trailed off while he handed her a crème-colored envelope.

Lisbon looked from the envelope to him with surprise on her face.

"Well, anyway, you should just see if you can make it" he said plainly and with that he left.

Lisbon opened the envelope to find a personal invitation for the D.A.'s office's annual gala, which turned out to be that night.

She had no idea what to make of it.

Truth be told, she had figured that the biggest surprise of that day had happened earlier in the afternoon, when Ardiles entered her office with the case file she had requested from his colleague, only an hour after she had returned from the D.A.'s office. He had handed her the file, accompanying his actions only with the words: "it's the case file you asked for". His face had showed its usual stoic expression with just a hint of annoyance or boredom or arrogance, or all three combined.

Lisbon had been sincerely thankful and had therefore refused to play his game of who hates whom more. Maybe it was because of that that he had stayed. Lisbon had looked at him, awaiting his actions, but when he didn't move a muscle she decided she would have a look inside the case file. When she started reading, she noticed that Ardiles was slowly making his way to her until he stood really, _really_ close. She felt his gaze on her face and it made her unable to concentrate on reading the case file. Just when she decided to look up at him, he averted his gaze to the page Lisbon had been staring at. He started to tell her about bits in the case file he thought were interesting until Jane had entered.

And now he had invited her to attend the D.A.'s gala. Or handed her the invitation, at least. Because it said nowhere that _he_ wanted her to come. The fact that he had waited until this moment to invite her for a gala _that night_ and the fact that he had told his boss that she probably wouldn't come said enough, Lisbon figured and went to see Van Pelt.

* * *

><p>After she told the team of the new information she had received, they immediately started to search for ways to find out the sister's last name. They kept hitting security walls. Neither of their security clearances where high enough to get through them and Van Pelt had no luck bypassing them. Lisbon just started to fear that she might had to visit Wainwright to ask him to get her a higher security clearance, when Van Pelt had a minor breakthrough.<p>

"Boss, I can't see what her last name is and I can't see exactly who has blocked that information, but I did find out that it is someone from the FBI" she told her. Lisbon was glad that they were making progress, although she hated it when other agencies turned out to be involved in her cases, especially if it was a Red John case.

"Good, Van Pelt, you keep trying to get us more information. Cho, Rigsby, I need you to go over to the FBI to find out what their deal is with this case. I'll go see Jane, maybe he has some ideas" Lisbon said.

She passed by her office and thought about the invitation she had put on her desk. It was probably best to just thank the D.A. for the invitation but politely decline and thereby save herself from a lot of last-minute dressing stress, let alone spend the whole night in the proximity of someone who might hate you and who obviously preferred it if she didn't show up.

But perhaps she had to read between the lines, perhaps Ardiles was just being himself… It wouldn't have been the first time that he had acted all indifferent, while he actually didn't feel so indifferent at all. Perhaps he did want her to come. The more she thought about this, the more excited she felt, which she could have written off as nothing more than nerves, were it not for the shy smile that had formed on her face.

When she reached the stairs to the attic, she put all those thoughts away, really not planning on having Jane interfere with all these things again.

Jane lay stretched out on his bed. One arm bended over the top of his head, the other clenching the closed case file on his stomach. Through his window, sunlight shone on his head, lighting up his blonde curls and accentuating the heartbreaking sadness on his face.

He looked every bit like an ancient Greek sculpture.

Lisbon opened her mouth to close it again. Would it be inappropriate if she would lay down beside him? Or would it solve everything? While she tried to come up with a better plan, which proved impossible as long as she kept looking at him, Jane spoke up.

"I don't have anything yet" he said and he sounded as if he was angry.

"Are you angry with me?" Lisbon therefore asked.

He turned his head to face her.

"No" he said softly.

Lisbon nodded and blinked while she broke their eye-contact. She stared out of his window. Jane kept looking at her. Eventually he reached out his arm and offered her his hand. Lisbon put her own hand in his and he carefully pulled her closer. She now stood directly beside his bed, looking down at his face while they were holding hands.

If he would pull her down beside him now, she would stay there forever and not even think about whether or not to go to the D.A.'s gala.

Five minutes later, she found herself in her office again, after standing next to Jane for another minute or so and eventually letting his hand fall back on his bed.

"I'm going home soon," she had said, "I'll see you in the morning."

She said Van Pelt goodnight and texted Rigsby and Cho, without explaining why she was leaving at six instead of ten, like she normally did when they had a Red John case.

* * *

><p>She went home and ate dinner by herself. It wasn't until she came out of the shower that she started to feel nervous. While she put on the dark red cocktail dress she luckily had for emergencies like these, she tried hard not to think of Ardiles' reaction the last time she wore a dress. Off course, it was to no avail. To block the image of a stuttering Ardiles in court from her mind, she distracted herself by going over her plan for work tomorrow. She would hear what Cho and Rigsby had found at the FBI, she thought while she applied her makeup. Then she would go over every bit of detail in the file from Mary's trial with Jane. That is, if he had been able to focus his thoughts on the job at hand.<p>

It was normal for him to withdraw when they had a Red John case, as it was normal for him to appear absent-minded. With Red John cases, he alternated between fits and starts of pure, rational brilliance, and all kinds of dark emotions and thoughts. In both cases, she would support him.

But lately, everything was different. Jane was different, she was different. He had been sad and desperate and alone, the brilliant epiphanies failed to appear, and she hadn't been able to support him.

She brushed her hair, put on her the diamond-like jewelry and decided to try again with Jane in the morning.

* * *

><p>She took a cab to the party. The large classic building, with broad stairs leading op to the entrance, already buzzed with an air of high society people, looking for a fun night out. When she walked up the stairs she noticed there was already music coming from inside and a lot of the guests had already arrived. Once inside, the coat check girl took her coat and a waiter came to greet her and offered her a glass of champagne while he showed her the buffet and the bars. She thanked him and walked further into the room. It was a large hall, with the highest possible ceilings, largely covered with chandeliers. Large, expensive mirrors hung on the walls. Everyone was dressed sharply. A big band was playing at a stage in the back of the room. The bars were large and showed every possible sort of liquor.<p>

People were all talking in little groups and she noticed that there seemed to be only a handful of people who weren't older than her. Not spotting someone she knew right away, she felt a little out of place. While she walked further into the room, she brushed her hands over her dress, whishing she would have gone for a black or dark blue dress, anything that wouldn't stand out so much. She figured it wasn't helping that she was standing in the centre of the room, so she searched the place for more covert spots. She found a bar at the back of the room and decided that even though she was still sipping from her glass of champagne, it would be the best place to survive this night without feeling all too uncomfortable. She would stand there for a while, watching the crowd, maybe make a few courtesy chats and if she didn't spot anyone familiar, she would leave after an hour. That should be doable, she thought while she neared the bar and asked herself why she even had bothered to come in the first place.

The answer to that question presented itself when Lisbon had almost reached her safe place for the evening. The tuxedo-clad, dark-haired man standing at the bar turned around with two cocktails in his hands she remembered from their night out. She stopped dead in her tracks, only a few yards away from him.

He hadn't spotted her though and the cocktails turned out to be for the two blonde girls at his side. They giggled and played with their hair while they started sipping from their drinks. He smiled and turned back to the bar to grab his glass of whisky. When he turned around again, he immediately spotted her. They held each other's stares for what seemed like an eternity, and Lisbon started to fear that she had misread his intentions with the invitation earlier today. Though a lot less obvious than the last time he saw her in a dress, she eventually noticed him looking her up and down, which gave her the slightest hint of hope.

But he didn't come to her, he didn't speak up, he didn't even smile at her. At that moment she had no idea what he did or didn't want from her and frankly she had no idea what she did or didn't want from him. Uncertain of what to do with the situation and already starting to feel like an idiot to dress up and come here when he clearly wasn't expecting her, she hesitantly waved at him, hoping to find out how he felt about her _tonight_.

In return, he nodded at her and broke their eye-contact, focusing his attention on the blondes beside him. She felt hurt and insecure and decided to leave right away. Her only reason for being her tonight was… was to improve the relationship with the D.A.'s office once more, but if… the D.A.'s office acted so indifferent to… the CBI, she was out of here. Leave it to him and his mood swings to be… _abysmal_. Though he had been horrible to her the last few days, he seemed to have come around this afternoon when he brought her that file, but apparently she had been mistaken when judging his intentions with the invitation.

While she made her way to the exit, the D.A. himself came to greet her.

"Agent Lisbon, it's so good to see you!" he said cheerfully and Lisbon managed to smile.

"You look beautiful, doesn't she darling?" the older man asked his wife. His wife nodded friendly.

"Mr. Jackson, it's good to see you to!" she said enthusiastically while she shook his hand.

"This is my wife Meredith. Meredith, this is agent Teresa Lisbon with the California Bureau of Investigation" he introduced them and Lisbon politely shook the other woman's hand.

"Ah, with the CBI, wow… So do you work closely with the D.A.'s office then?" the D.A.'s wife asked her.

"Yes" the D.A. said, still very cheerful. "Agent Lisbon has been work shadowing with one of our guys over the last few weeks," he explained to his wife, "and it was a pleasure to have you, agent Lisbon" he said, directing his attention back to her.

Lisbon hated these kind of social networking chit-chats, but knew that _that_, in fact, was the true reason she should attend this gala, so she played along.

"Thank you, it was my pleasure. And thank you by the way for tonight's invitation" she said a little over the top, although the D.A. and his wife didn't seem to notice.

"Thank _you_ for being here!" he laughed. "Although we should really thank mr. Ardiles. He suggested it to me yesterday, since you had been working together so closely, and I thought it was a wonderful idea!" he explained.

Lisbon couldn't help but look over her shoulder at Ardiles who was still talking to those girls, who seemed to be laughing about _everything_ he said and she wondered what on earth it was that he wanted.

She made some small talk with the D.A. and his wife who were soon joined by a man slightly older than the D.A., accompanied by his wife and presumably their son. The two wives happily greeted each other and soon distanced themselves from the group to chat some in private. The D.A. patted the older man on his back and shook the son's hand.

"Wow, look at you Jason, a real Colonel! Congratulations, my boy!" he said, seeming genuinely proud and impressed. The guy, almost eight inches taller than his father and the D.A. smiled friendly and shook the D.A.'s hand.

The D.A. then turned to Lisbon.

"Agent Lisbon, may I introduce you to my old friend John Stuart and his son, Marine Corps Colonel Jason Stuart. Jason, John, this is C.B.I. agent Teresa Lisbon."

Lisbon shook both their hands and smiled friendly.

"God, John, it _is _good to see you! How have you been?" the D.A. asked his old time friend, who started telling him all the news he had missed. Lisbon was only able to get half of the stories, as they were mostly inside jokes, but it didn't go unnoticed by her that the D.A.'s friend hated that his son was still single. The colonel tried to smile it away and waited patiently beside his father, but Lisbon saw that he felt really embarrassed.

"So, did you become a colonel recently?" she asked him, mostly out of pity, but when he smiled a broad smile she noticed that he wasn't so badly looking. He had the standard marine haircut, with graying blonde hair, a sharp jaw and perfect teeth. His friendly, light grey eyes were looking straight at her when he spoke.

"Not really, I've been a colonel for almost four years now, but it's the first time since then that I saw Derek again" he said friendly, referring to the D.A. "It sure is good to see him again."

Lisbon smiled. "So how do you know our D.A.?" she asked, mostly to make a polite conversation.

"He's been a friend to our family ever since I was a little boy. I think I can honestly say that from all the people my father supports, he likes what Derek here does with the D.A.'s office best. That's why he always makes sure that whenever the D.A.'s office is planning a party, or a fundraiser, or whatever, they get the very best there is…" the colonel said and took a sip from his drink.

Lisbon couldn't help but raise her eyebrows at little. Was he bragging about his father bribing the D.A.? She decided it was best to leave it and opted for another conversation topic.

"So, colonel, I guess you must be very dedicated to the Corps?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. The Marine Corps is my life," he started with a serious look on his face and continued to orate about his life as a marine colonel. Although his work was obviously very impressing, after listening to him for almost fifteen minutes straight, Lisbon started to wonder how long he was planning on continuing. When her glass was empty, she nearly interrupted him to get a refill, when he suddenly lowered his voice to a more intimate level.

"The only problem is that it's hard to combine work with a personal life," he said, "but I guess that goes for you and me both…" he trailed off, smiling slightly while looking her in the eye.

Lisbon didn't really know how to respond, so she decided to laugh it off as a joke.

The colonel laughed with her, leaving her still clueless as to what he had meant with his previous comment.

The two older men had long gone elsewhere, and Lisbon wasn't really planning on spending an entire evening with the colonel, so she took this opportunity to get away.

"I'm going to get something to drink, can I get you anything?" she offered, already having checked his half full glass.

"No, thanks, I'm good. But I'll walk with you" he answered with a smile on his face, while Lisbon forced a smile of her own.

Lisbon made sure to lead them to another bar than she previously had spotted Ardiles. After ordering, she tried to keep a friendly conversation going, waiting for the right moment to leave without offending anyone. While Lisbon sipped from her drink and tried to have a conversation with the colonel they _both_ would enjoy, Ardiles was watching them closely, not liking this new development one bit.

He took a sip from his drink and thought about how the evening had started. He had arrived a little early at the party, to make sure he would spot Lisbon when she entered. He had decided against picking her up and making it seem like a date, to avoid any disappointment, but as more and more of his colleagues had entered and Lisbon still hadn't arrived, his mood had started to drop.

After a while, he went to talk to his friends to lift his spirits. They soon noticed his foul mood and started asking questions, if not to find the truth then at least to tease him a little.

"So, Oscar, _did_ anything happen between you and agent Lisbon?" Marc asked.

"Yeah..!" Stan agreed. "Tell us what happened!"

They all laughed, but waited for him to answer, which he obviously wasn't planning on doing. So he laughed along and drank from his glass of champagne.

His friend were watching him closely and he knew that whatever he said or did wouldn't matter, because they would decide for themselves what had happened.

He shrugged, almost uncharacteristically shy.

The others took their time to interpret this shrug, but eventually started laughing again.

"No! He didn't do it!"

"Nooo, of course he didn't!"

"Ahh, poor guy..!"

"Well, too bad, eh?"

Ardiles forced himself to smile for a second before he took off to talk to the two young blondes at the bar.

Not long after, Lisbon had arrived, looking more beautiful than ever. She waved at him and he felt the urge to go talk to her and leave the two girls at the bar behind. But at the same time, his hurt feelings stopped him from doing just that. He had no idea what she did or didn't want from him and frankly he had no idea what he did or didn't want from her. So he nodded and focused his attention back on the girls, hoping that he would find an answer to those questions later that evening.

Well, he hadn't yet, but judging by the looks of it, there was someone else in the room who knew just exactly what he wanted from Lisbon. And they were enjoying themselves, judging from the fact that they had seemed inseparable ever since they met.

In reality, Lisbon wasn't enjoying herself all that much. Though she thought the colonel was nice, he was also absolutely not her type. And even if he was, the last thing she needed was another man in her life to complicate things further. So when he excused himself after a while to deliver a speech on stage, Lisbon felt utterly relieved. She looked over at the exit, and with most of the people gathering around the stage, it seemed like the perfect moment to sneak out early and just go home as she had planned earlier. That wouldn't be rude at all, she thought to herself. Even better, no-one would notice… And she had said hi to Ardiles. She figured that there was no chance of her quickly chatting with him before she left, so she should just go.

While she was still weighing her options, Ardiles' friends had already spotted her, standing alone. They joined her, offering her a drink, which she declined friendly. She smiled at their slick attitudes, which they seemed to take as a compliment. And even though they were a little slick and over-the-top, Lisbon couldn't say they weren't nice company. They chatted about all kinds of things and Lisbon really enjoyed herself. Much to her surprise, they managed to refrain from bringing up Ardiles until half an hour later.

"Teresa, you're gonna have to tell us what it was like to work with our Oscar..!" Marc Stevens asked.

"Spare no details!" Victor Goodman added.

"I mean, he went with you on an actual field case, right? I can't imagine what that would've looked like!" Joe Velasco laughed.

Lisbon laughed, more because how hard the others laughed, but also a little bit because the memories of working with Ardiles made her smile.

"Well, I can say that he seemed quite impressed by our field work, the closer we came to the crime scene, the more modest he became..." Lisbon joked.

The others laughed.

"Our tough little man, always the biggest mouth in the office, being put in his place by agent Teresa Lisbon! How do you like that!" Marc laughed.

"I can't believe how you managed to work with him, I mean, did he even cooperate at all, or did he have to be Mr. Know-it-all all the time?" Joe asked.

Lisbon laughed because she knew the others meant no harm talking about Ardiles this way, they were just trying to tease him a little.

"God, you have no idea how many times I asked myself _how on earth_ I was going to manage working with him!" Lisbon answered, unaware that the subject of their conversation had actually started listening in from the first moment they dropped his name and was now standing right behind the group.

"But eventually it did work out for some reason…" Lisbon added, thinking back at the time when they were finally able to work together somewhat decently.

"Yeah, how _did_ you manage to do that?" Marc asked, and Lisbon wondered if he was implying something.

Lisbon hoped she wasn't blushing to obviously.

"I guess we both decided to just act professionally…" she answered, quickly taking a sip from her drink.

"Really?" Joe asked sarcastically. "_Professionally_, huh?"

Lisbon nearly choked on her drink and wondered what exactly Ardiles had told them. Luckily, right then Ardiles decided that it was time to make his presence known and thereby saving them both.

"Yes, professionally" he stated, drawing the attention of the surprised group. "You guys should try it too" he said, effectively ending their speculation and shutting them up.

Lisbon was quite impressed by the way he handled this, but felt a little ashamed that she had talked about him behind his back. Ardiles didn't seem to mind though.

"Agent Lisbon and I got instructions from higher up to work on the relationship between the CBI and the D.A.'s office and we did our jobs the best possible way we could. Both our bosses were satisfied, so now we can go back to doing our own jobs with more insight in each others', isn't that right, agent Lisbon?" he asked, looking at her.

Lisbon was even more impressed. This was the most professional attitude he had shown her since… since… ever! It seemed as if he finally had gotten over the whole _thing_ and just acted as a good colleague. Lisbon had expected that this would make her feel better and relieved, but somehow it didn't.

"Yes" she said, a little taken off guard by his sudden change in attitude and therefore far from convincing.

Before she could start to think about what her lack of relief meant, Ardiles made sure she had no reason to believe he had gotten over anything, at all.

"As for my personal opinion on the whole work shadowing thing, I'm glad it is over. You might think that _I'm_ hard to work with, but agent Lisbon isn't one to cooperate with easily as well. It may have been fun at some point, but it shouldn't have lasted any longer" he said somewhat bitterly and not as all as cheerful and teasingly as the atmosphere had been earlier. He gulped down his drink and put his glass down at the bar, before walking away from the group, leaving a stunned Lisbon.

After Ardiles' display, there was an awkward silence among the group. No-one really knew what to say. Lisbon fought hard to keep a smile on her face, trying to dismiss Ardiles' behavior as teasing, but failed.

Marc noticed it. "Ah don't take it personally, he's probably just pissed off that you didn't sleep with him..!" he joked, trying to lighten the mood. The others laughed half-heartedly.

Lisbon didn't. She frowned and kept thinking about all the times he had hurt her for no apparent reason. She had had it with him and his maladjusted behavior. He had no right to hurt her the way he did.

She looked up at the men standing around her.

"Excuse me" she said and without awaiting their response stormed off in the same direction Ardiles had.

She found him at one of the most crowded bars. He leaned against the bar, trying to get the barkeeper's attention. She could just spot the smug look on his face when he looked sideways to see if there were any attractive women around. Lisbon stopped right behind him and frowned. He didn't seem to notice her or didn't seem to care to turn around, which annoyed her even more. Grabbing his arm, she turned him around and looked straight into his shocked/annoyed face. She pulled him away from the bar to a more quiet corner.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ardiles asked.

Lisbon's eyes flared with anger.

"I could ask you the same question!" she spit back.

"What are you talking about?!" Ardiles responded, getting more worked up.

"I'm talking about that scene you made just now" Lisbon answered.

"_I _made a scene?! That's precious!" he laughed sarcastically.

"Why do you have to insult me every time we meet? Why do you act like a jerk around me all the time?!" Lisbon asked, visibly upset.

Ardiles looked up, an annoyed smile on his face, sighing audibly. "I have no idea what you're talking about… I don't know where you would get that idea" he responded.

Lisbon got even more annoyed. "Cut the crap, Oscar!" she nearly yelled.

She didn't know whether it was the yelling or the use of his first name that got his attention, but he was now looking her in the eyes and his smile had faltered.

"Was it because of what I said about working with you to your colleagues?" Lisbon asked. "Because if so, I'm really sorry, I was just joking…"

Ardiles cut her sort. "No, it's not that! It's nothing. It's…" he started, but eventually broke their eye-contact. "I just wasn't planning on acting all sugar sweet just because we completed Wainwright's assignment…" he said while looking right past her.

Before Lisbon could respond, he continued. "Anyway, there comes your new friend. Have fun, I'll leave you two alone" he said before he walked away.

When Lisbon turned around, she nearly bumped into a uniform-clad man.

"Miss Lisbon!" he smiled friendly.

It cost here all the effort in the world to force her to smile back and she decided that her foul mood was caused completely by the fact that the colonel kept calling her '_miss_' Lisbon.

"Colonel, hi. Actually, it's _agent_ Lisbon" she said much more harshly than she had intended. "But you can call me Teresa" she quickly added when she noticed the startled look on his face. She cursed herself inwardly for encouraging him, because he was now smiling as if he had won the lottery and she feared he may never leave her side.

"Okay. Teresa. You can call me Jason" he said, smiling at her as if this was a really intimate thing.

Lisbon just smiled a fake smile back at him. She couldn't stop thinking about Ardiles and the way he behaved around her. Ever since their work shadowing ended, he had been rude to her. Only two weeks ago she would have dismissed it as him being his normal self, but over the past week she had experienced a much nicer side of him. Only thinking back of their nights out-

Her thoughts were cut short by Jason.

"Teresa? Are you okay, you seem distracted?"

Lisbon blinked. "Yes, yeah, I'm okay, I'm sorry…"

Jason tried to look her in the eye. "You sure? Does it have anything to do with that man that just left? Who was he? Did he want anything from you?"

"Yeah, no, it has nothing to do with him, he's nobody, I'm sorry" she quickly responded.

Jason didn't really buy it, but decided to change the subject.

"So what did you think about my speech?" he asked and Lisbon realized she hadn't listened to his speech at all.

She smiled her most charming smile. "Yes..! It was _really_ good, perfect!" she said and downed her drink.

She knew he must have thought that she was an alcoholic, but frankly couldn't care much. In all honesty, it wasn't that he was such an awful guy, but tonight she just couldn't use his company. She needed some time alone to figure out what to do with Ardiles.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to" Jason said, "but I can tell there's something bothering you."

Lisbon offered him an apologetic smile.

"Then can I get you anything to drink?" he offered friendly.

"Thank you, I would like that. I think I'll just take an orange juice, please" she said and smiled thankfully.

As soon as Jason tried to make his way through the crowd to get to the bar, he encountered some people that seem to recognize him. He greeted them and immediately waved for Lisbon to join them. She knew she must have looked sad, standing alone in a dark corner, but frankly she wished she would get some time alone tonight before Ardiles would leave.

Eventually, she walked over to the group of three, which consisted of a man and two women. Jason introduced them but Lisbon didn't pay much attention. They sounded like a bunch of wannabe's to her who were hoping to look interesting by being seen with a Marine colonel. The women took a special interest in him, as she soon found out and she didn't mind one bit.

* * *

><p>After a little while she excused herself from the party and walked over to the storey-high, open doors that led to a large stone balcony. When she walked outside she noticed that the air wasn't as hot anymore as it had been a few weeks ago, but she still found it pleasant enough. She walked over to a stone bench just around to corner and sat down. There was a slight breeze that made the hem of her skirt tickle against her knees and made her hair graze her face every now and then.<p>

All in all she decided she shouldn't have come tonight. It had been an insensitive thing to do, going out partying while Jane was suffering because of the Red John case, and karma had come to bite her in the ass.

But still, Ardiles didn't care much for Jane's feelings, so he had no reason to behave with her like he did. She came here because he had invited her, and he had been nothing but rude to her the whole night. She knew she should just go home and never think of him again, but somehow she wished she could talk to him one more time and maybe have a good time like they had had as well.

From afar, Ardiles had been watching her when she walked away from that obnoxious military guy. After his falling out with Lisbon, he had decided to avoid thinking about it for the rest of the night and had found one of the two girls he had been chatting with earlier again. She hadn't been too pleased about his absent-minded behavior earlier, to be topped by him walking away from them to join another group of people, but he had promised her it was all sorted now and that he would very much enjoy spending the rest of the evening with her. It seemed that she had forgiven him, as she started to gossip about her friend leaving the party with a guy they just met. Ardiles had tried to pay attention to her story and completely ignore every possible thought of Lisbon, but it was impossible for him to ignore the image of the most beautiful woman at the party making her way to the balcony alone and seemingly sad. As soon as he spotted the petite woman in her red dress in the corner of his eye, all his attention was focused on her. She seemed so alone as she hesitantly stepped onto the balcony. She went to sit on the bench and looked down. Her dark curls waved in the wind, softly caressing her pale face. Her arms were bare and even though he was standing fifty feet away from her he swore she had goose bumps. He wanted nothing more than to apologize and make up with her so he could hold her and make her feel warm and happy again.

"Oscar!" he suddenly heard and he snapped his head in the direction where the sound was coming from. He was greeted by Lindsey's angry face.

"Oscar! What is it with you? Am I boring you? Is that it? Because if it is, I will go..!" she said theatrically.

He apologized quickly. "No, Lindsey, of course not! I'm sorry, you were saying..?" he said, urging her to continue. But even as he said it, he turned his head to look at Lisbon.

"What is going on? Ever since that woman entered you've been nothing but distracted!" Lindsey huffed aggrievedly.

Ardiles turned back for a second in an effort to excuse himself as a proper gentleman, but he failed miserably. "Excuse me" he mumbled while he started walking towards the lonely, red figure outside, never averting his eyes from her.

With only ten feet to go before he would reach the balcony, he halted for a moment to think about what he was going to say. He inhaled deeply, but just when he knew what to do when he reached her, he saw the marine intercepting his course and reaching his goal long before him. Ardiles watched him putting on his marine hat before walking over to Lisbon.

Ardiles sighed a long sigh. He watched the other man talking to her and when she talked back, he turned around and headed for the bar, his shoulders slumped, where Lindsey was of course no longer to be found. As if he cared, he thought while he ordered himself a whisky.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Jason had walked up to Lisbon and was standing in front of her.<p>

"I'm sorry I didn't get you that orange juice" he said.

Lisbon smiled slightly. "That's okay" she responded.

"So how about we'll get one now?" he asked.

Lisbon sighed.

"Or do you want to stay out here a bit longer?" he quickly added.

Lisbon looked up at him.

"Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?" he offered.

"I think I just want to go home" Lisbon said

Jason stayed silent for a while, but nodded.

"Okay. Would you let me escort you to your cab?" he asked.

Lisbon smiled. "Yes. Thank you."

He offered her his hand, which she took and he guided her back inside. They walked to the exit together, where Lisbon asked the coat check girl for her coat. Jason waited with her, while an awkward silence ensued.

"I'm sorry I can't escort you back to your house, believe me, I would love to, but I promised my father I would escort my mother home when she wants to leave" Jason said.

"That's alright, I can handle myself" Lisbon smiled.

"Right" he said.

Just when the coat check girl came back with Lisbon's coat, she heard Ardiles calling her name while he came walking up to her in a fast pace.

"Teresa!"

"Oscar?"

He came to a sudden halt in front of the pair.

"Hi" he said while he looked at her, sounding suddenly very shy.

"Hi" Lisbon smiled a little insecure smile.

"So, you're leaving?" he asked, looking from Lisbon to the colonel. Not long after he had started sipping his whisky back at the bar, he saw Lisbon and the colonel leaving together. Somehow that upset him enough to shut his stupid pride up and before he knew it he had started to walk towards them. As if the idea of Lisbon leaving wasn't disappointing enough, it now seemed that she was leaving with another guy.

He awaited her response to his question with much suspense. He noticed that she seemed hesitant.

"Sir, the lady is going home. I'll make sure she'll get in the cab safely, if you would excuse us" Jason told him sternly.

Even though he was a great deal taller than him, Ardiles didn't seem impressed at all. He turned to throw him an annoyed look for just a second before focusing his attention back at Lisbon.

"Are you not feeling well?"Ardiles asked tentatively, knowing full well that her leaving early had everything to do with the way he behaved.

"No, not really" Lisbon softly answered, leaving the colonel wondering why she didn't just ditch this guy.

Ardiles saw the hurt in her eyes and cursed himself for thinking that hurting her the way she had hurt him would solve anything.

"I'm sorry" he said. "I was actually hoping that you might do me the honor of dancing with me before you leave…" he asked, as always surprising everyone with his boldness.

Jason was just planning on saying something when Lisbon noticed that for the first time tonight she felt good.

It was ridiculous. He was a jerk and a douche bag who deserved to be ignored for weeks after tonight, but somehow she wanted nothing more than to dance with him.

She looked at Jason, who looked back at her with an incredulous expression. Then she looked back at Ardiles, whose hopeful eyes made her decision so much easier.

"Okay" she said, her wounded pride telling her to hold back her smile.

Ardiles did smile and grabbed her hand so when they walked over to the dance floor they were holding hands, leaving the colonel flabbergasted.

The band had started playing Charles Aznavour's classic _She_ when they arrived at the dance floor and Ardiles went to stand in front of her. They stood still for a moment, looking at each other as if it was the first time they met.

Without averting his eyes, Ardiles slowly but steadily reached for her hand and placed it at the top of his chest, quickly slipping his arm behind her back, pulling her closer while their other hands found each other.

While they danced, all they wanted was to be close to each other, but there was still so much lingering hurt. They saw it reflected in each others' eyes and it killed them both to see it, so they averted their gaze.

As Lisbon looked down at their simultaneously moving feet, she was glad that they were now able to spend time together without arguing and she wished it would never end.

They had been moving together slowly for a few minutes when she heard Ardiles inhale as if he was about to speak up loudly, but when he spoke it was just barely above a whisper.

"Why did you leave without saying anything on Sunday?" he asked, sounding sad and insecure. Lisbon didn't have to think about what he was talking about, even though he hadn't put it into words. Suddenly, she totally understood where all his behavior had came from and she felt the pain it had caused him.

"I… I don't know…" she responded. She felt like she had been utterly insensitive with him the last few days so she should be able to give him more of an explanation than this. "I guess I was afraid that it would be awkward… and then I saw what time it was and I still had the initial case report to write…" she rambled and found herself being really nervous. "I just didn't know what to do at the time…" she concluded.

They were both silent for a while, trying to get their nerves under control. Eventually Ardiles spoke up.

"Frankly, it was quite a disappointment…" he started, trying to sound casual and light, but Lisbon heard him getting emotional. "…When I woke up and you where gone. Because I had wanted to see how things would go and I thought you felt the same…" he said and Lisbon suddenly felt the overwhelming desire to hug him, so she let the hand that had previously rested on his chest wander to the back of his shoulder and pulled him closer to her.

Ardiles noticed it and tried to make a joke to ease the tension, hoping he wasn't upsetting her too much. "As you know I'm a little sensitive about people leaving me without telling" he joked, but even as he said it, his smile faltered. Lisbon remembered what he had told about his parents and it made her feel so, _so _stupid.

"Oscar I am so, _so_ sorry" she said, "God, I'm so sorry!"

She had never been so glad to hold this man in her arms.

He said nothing but Lisbon heard him swallow loudly.

"I'm glad you're here now" he responded after a while. "And I am really sorry for being so cold and mean to you. I didn't mean it and I shouldn't have done it and I'm sorry" he told her, which made her feel warm and happy.

They danced closely for a while, basking in the feeling of being at peace with each other for the first time since their sleepover. The band had started playing more upbeat songs. After some time, Ardiles spoke up softly.

"It was hard for me, being a jerk to you, you know" he said and looked at her with his smile firmly in place.

"I doubt that" Lisbon teased.

"No it's true, when I'm being mean to you, you look like a little bird that fell out of its nest" he said and tried to look as sincerely as possible, secretly enjoying this conversation to no end.

"No I don't!" Lisbon responded.

"I mean it, I felt like I was kicking a little puppy!" he joked, and Lisbon laughed at the ridiculous idea of her looking like a little bird or a puppy.

"Earlier tonight, when you came to greet me and you looked so beautiful, I just wanted to go after you and hug you" he added, unable to stop himself from getting serious again.

Lisbon blushed from his uncharacteristic sweet talking.

Ardiles smiled. He got a mischievous glint in his eye and without warning he twirled Lisbon around so when she turned back she landed against his chest. He put both his arms around her and started dancing more like they had on their previous nights out. While he moved them around, holding her close to him, Lisbon felt her face redden.

"I don't think we're suppose to dance like this in here…" she whispered, not knowing where to look, afraid that all the eyes in the crowd were fixed upon them.

Ardiles smiled and looked at her bowed head, trying to see her face. He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face up so he could look her in the eye. He noticed the redness in her cheeks and the shyness in her big, beautiful green eyes. She smiled nervously. His face was now so close to hers and she knew that even though she already felt embarrassed _dancing_ like this in this crowd, she wouldn't stop him if he kissed her.

Luckily, Ardiles had noticed her discomfort. After staring into her eyes for a moment longer, he just mumbled "yeah, you're right" and he started moving them towards the balcony. They danced until they reached the end of the dance floor and after that Ardiles held both her hands while they made their way to the open doors. He kept looking at her, walking backwards and never letting more than a few inches of space between them.

They were alone on the balcony and Ardiles used it to pull her close and dance like he wanted to. Lisbon laughed at the total disinterest he showed for the appropriate manners at his own office gala. They danced freely for a while, completely disregarding the people inside. Though it was just innocent twirling and dipping at first, Ardiles soon added a little more hip movement and his hands started to wander. Lisbon acted as if she found it embarrassing, but when he immediately took a step back as not to overstep any boundaries, she pulled him close to her. When he immediately started dancing again, holding her body close to his, Lisbon smiled a broad smile. Secretly, she had always loved the lack of self-restraint he had shown around her. It had something genuine and passionate and it made her feel special.

Not long after, he moved them around the balcony so they were just around the corner of the doors, out of everyone's sight. When he softly pushed her against the wall, Lisbon had an idea of what he was about to happen, but she couldn't believe he would actually dare to kiss her with all his superiors being able to walk in on them any minute. She had never seen herself as the kind of woman to be pushed against a wall before kissed passionately by a bold man, but there she was, with absolutely no idea what to do next.

Knowing that her face tended to look even more vulnerable and helpless than she felt in these situations, she started to look around, carefully avoiding looking at Ardiles in hopes of distracting herself from the simmering tension between them. She noticed Ardiles didn't feel so uncomfortable and kept looking at her with an amused smile on his face. She smiled back shortly and hoped against hope that it would look casual and not as nervous as she felt. Checking his response, she immediately noticed him smiling to himself, trying to refrain from breaking out a full blown grin. Slightly annoyed and embarrassed, she quickly averted her eyes again.

It was when she was just studying the vines of ivy growing beside her on the wall that Ardiles stepped even closer to her, their bodies nearly touching. The action drew her attention away from the plant and to his face just long enough to see that his amused expression had been replaced with a look of want, before he kissed her.

And she enjoyed it. He placed his hands on her waist and she put her arms around his neck. They kissed so passionately that neither of them thought about whether this was such a good idea. If it were up to them, it would last forever, but the only few smokers at the party hadn't taken their wish into account when they decided that this was a good time for a cigarette. Ardiles and Lisbon broke off their kiss abruptly when they heard the group approach. Ardiles quickly took a step back and looked away from the party that had entered the balcony, to avoid looking conspicuous. Lisbon looked down for the same reason, while she felt her heart racing and her face redden. The men greeted them nevertheless and Lisbon found herself greeting them back, suddenly being able to sound convincingly casual. This made Ardiles look back at her with a highly amused face, which caused her to laugh out loud. Even when Ardiles joined her, the smokers didn't seem to pay any attention to them and it became pretty obvious that they were way too drunk to have noticed anything compromising.

To not take any risks, Ardiles remained on a decent distance from her. They looked at each other, trying to decided how to go from here. When a smile started to form on Ardiles' lips eventually, Lisbon knew he had come up with something.

"If I remember correctly, the lady was going home?" he asked, referring to what the colonel had said to him earlier.

Lisbon laughed, having completely forgotten that awkward moment.

"Yes, that's right," she said after pulling a serious face, "but you held me from doing so."

Ardiles showed his most earnest face. "I'm very sorry about that. Then please let me make it up to you by escorting you to your cab in safety" he said, mocking the way the colonel had tried to impress Lisbon. He offered her his hand, but Lisbon smiled and pushed him aside, walking away herself. Ardiles quickly followed suit. While they made their way through the crowd to the exit, they tried not to attract any attention, since they were leaving, early, together _and _Ardiles knew that the son of his boss' best friend had shown an interest in Lisbon. He knew they had failed miserably though when he heard the loud laughter of his colleagues behind them. Without turning around, he threw his hand in the air to wave them goodnight, which caused another round of laughter that ended long after they had arrived at the exit. Lisbon went to get her jacket from the annoyed coat check girl, who had been holding her jacket for nearly half an hour without knowing when or if Lisbon would come back.

Ardiles had waited for her and grabbed her hand when she was ready. They couldn't wait to get away and go somewhere private, so they nearly ran down the stairs in front of the building. There were taxi's waiting. Ardiles held the door for her and got in quickly after Lisbon. When they were seated, they were both grinning like idiots.

"Where to?" the driver asked, not sharing their giddy mood.

Lisbon didn't hesitate for a moment and told him her address, to prove to Ardiles that she wouldn't leave again.

They couldn't keep their eyes off of each other. After a while, Ardiles moved over to her so his face was less than an inch away from hers. They kissed again and Lisbon thought to herself that she loved his kisses. They weren't interrupted by anyone, so when their kiss ended, Ardiles smoothly went from kissing her lips to kissing her cheeks and her nose and her eyes. He showered her face with kisses until her lips reclaimed his again. They wanted to pull each other closer, but the seatbelts prevented it. A deep yearning to feel all of each other's bodies started to form inside them. Knowing full well that that want wouldn't be satisfied during the car ride, they tried to cool themselves down and take it slow, which meant soft, slow kisses and only letting their hands touch each other's hair and neck. But that, combined with what they saw when they opened their eyes, just added to their burning desire.

Eventually, they found themselves standing in front of Lisbon's door, the taxi long gone, with a whole night ahead of them. Ardiles looked at Lisbon, at her bright green eyes, filled with desire; her parted lips, still swollen from their making out; the blushes on her cheeks that contrasted with the light skin, only covered up by the sexy dark red dress she was wearing. When she took a step closer to him and planted her hands on his chest, he swallowed audibly. Very aware of the fact that during the whole night they had never actually talked about him spending the night with her, he didn't dare to make the first step. He was just seriously beginning to fear a kiss on the cheek and a 'goodnight', when her fingers stared to go through his already disheveled hair. When she also licked her lips slightly, he couldn't contain himself any longer.

Pulling her body close to him, his kissed her feverishly until he was sure she wouldn't be able to say goodnight yet. And she wasn't. She tried to fish her keys from her purse as quickly as possible and wished she had cleaned up inside before she had left. Already smiling apologetically at him, he kissed her while she fumbled with the key in the lock until it opened. As soon as the door swung open, Ardiles swept her up in his arms and moved them inside, trying to kick the door shut but not really caring whether he succeeded or not, because he was finally where he wanted to be. He doubted for a second whether he should take a moment to see how her house looked from the inside, but decided he could always take a look in the morning so he could now focus all his attention on the gorgeous woman in his arms. They stumbled further inside while he kissed her neck and she stroke the back of his head. He let his hands wander over her bare arms while she fumbled with the button on his jacket.

With every bit of each other's body their hands touched, their kisses became more passionate and intense. They yearned to feel each other, to be close to each other. It felt as if their love making had to make up for all the hurt they had caused each other. Lisbon tried to guide them towards her bedroom, but felt somewhat disoriented by the feeling of Ardiles loving her like he did. Eventually, they fell down on a couch, which seemed to do fine for the moment.

It was dark in the house, but since the couch stood next to the window and the curtains were open, some light managed to shine inside. Ardiles lay half on top of Lisbon while he looked down at her body and face. He smiled because he felt so happy to be able to hold and kiss her again. Lisbon saw it and smiled as well, for the exact same reason. She was just planning on kissing him again, when she saw his smile falter.

"Promise me you will still be here tomorrow?" he asked and though it was hard to see with only the dim light coming from outside, it seemed as if he felt embarrassed by his own question.

Lisbon smiled lovingly. "Yes, I promise, of course! Promise me you won't leave tomorrow to get back at me?" she asked, and though she meant for it to come out jokingly, it sounded far more serious.

"I promise" he whispered right before he kissed her.

They continued their making out on the couch for some time longer before they finally made their way to the bedroom for a night of passionate and tender love making.

* * *

><p>During that same evening, Jane had been laying on a couch as well; completely and utterly alone.<p>

After Lisbon had left that afternoon, he had come down from his attic to seek some company. Van Pelt had been there and had tried to make conversation with him, but as he soon found, the things that were occupying his mind weren't things to be discussed. They were thoughts of Red John, and how it was possible that he wasn't able to crack this case, even worse, how it was possible that he wasn't even able to _focus_ on this case. And then there were thoughts of Lisbon. Thoughts of his feelings for Lisbon. Thoughts of her feelings for him. Thoughts of her feelings for Ardiles and there you go, the vicious circle was round. So Van Pelt had quickly gathered that it was no use trying to talk to him, because he wouldn't say what was bothering him, but he wouldn't talk about anything else either.

She had gone home as well. Cho and Rigsby had returned and left, after which he was completely alone. And for the first since a long time, he actually felt that way. Hours went by and he felt lonelier with every minute that passed. His thoughts remained the same, no matter how hard he tried to change them. What if Lisbon would actually fall in love with Ardiles? Would he curse himself for not telling her how he felt? Should he let them be happy with each other? Did Lisbon have feelings for Ardiles? Did she have feelings for him..?

Eventually, he got so frustrated with his own mind and the pettiness of his thoughts that he jumped up from the couch, determined to distract himself. As he started wandering around the bullpen, he saw nothing that could take his mind of those unanswered questions in his head. He walked to Lisbon's office, hoping it might still be open so he could snoop around a bit, which would both distract him and maybe answer some of those questions. The door was locked.

He figured he might as well go back to his attic, perhaps it would make him feel less lonely, even though he already knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. Luckily for him, when he walked over to his bed, he noticed the current Red John case file lying on it. At least he didn't have to try to fall asleep the entire night, he thought. So he threw himself down on his bed and started to read it again.

_Who was she? Who was Mary Chapman? What happened to the rest of her family? How did she know Red John?_ The onset of schizophrenia mostly occurs after a traumatic, stressful event. _Was her family murdered by Red John?_ Could be. _Why did she say _she_ was Red John? _Survivors guilt perhaps…

God, now he was just guessing..! He threw the file on the ground next to his bed and got up, annoyed and frustrated.

"That still doesn't explain the mystery sister…" he mumbled to no-one.

Why was she the only one to come visit her?

_Perhaps because Mary was a bit unorthodox, rubbing people the wrong way, but was Susan the only one to see behind her charade and care for her for who she really was… It's obvious that Mary became who she was because of certain traumatic things from her past. Susan must have been the only one that cared for her unconditionally._

That makes no sense at all.

_Would anyone come to visit me if I ended up in the looney bin? _

No! Back to the case, Susan Chapman,…

_Lisbon would come. I'm sure she would. No matter what._

Well, maybe not if she and Ardiles would be dating… Damn!

_Probably not. He hates me and she would have other stuff on her head than visiting a lunatic._ No need to be so theatrical, I'm not even in the looney bin..!

_But she might be dating Ardiles for all I know…_

This wasn't working. His absent-minded behavior was getting him nowhere. This issue needed to be settled if he ever wanted to solve this case. He should just go and tell Lisbon about his thoughts and feelings, so he would know her answer for once and for all. He would tell her what was bothering him, what was keeping him from solving the case and just see how it went from there. It was the only option he had at this point.

The question was, would he dare to?

Getting a bit hyped up, he jumped up from his bed and started walking around the room. Truth be told, he had been playing with this idea for a few days. So far he hadn't actually dared to tell the Lisbon the full truth, but that had just made things more complicated. Perhaps this was to solution to it all. Perhaps this wouldn't just solve the case, but un-complicate their entire relationship. It would be best for all parties involved.

He should just do it, he thought while he hurried down the stairs for no particular reason. How would he do it? He would get in his car and drive up to Lisbon's house. Would that be inappropriate? He checked the clock on the wall. Eleven twenty-five. Meh, that shouldn't be a problem. When they worked late sometimes, she didn't even get home before this time. Okay, then what? Then I'll walk up to her front door and ring her door bell. She will open it, with probably that annoyed look at first, mixed with just a hint of worry, he thought and smiled to himself just thinking about it.

He felt good; good about his idea and good about his preparation so far, so he decided to stay in the flow and just start driving to her. He would think about the rest on the way. So he made his way outside, to the parking lot and got in his car.

While he drove, he wondered if he should bring her something. Flowers, or chocolates. But when he thought of those cheap gas station flowers, he decided he'd rather give her nothing. That was probably best too, he thought, because now he would get to her sooner, which was best for both of them.

Not long after, he arrived at her street. Parking his car at the side of the road, he stayed put for just a little while longer. So this was it. The moment that would change their relationship for good. He knew if she wouldn't return his feelings, they would never be friends like they had been. Perhaps he should have brought her something, to show her he meant it. As if a small bunch of cheap flowers would change her feelings for him.

He stared outside his car window to her house. The lights were off.

Perhaps she was already asleep and he would disturb her. He knew she hated that. And even if she didn't, it was hardly the perfect way to tell her how he felt.

None of this was the perfect way to tell her how he felt. In the ideal case that she felt the same way as him, he didn't exactly know _how_ they felt. He didn't even know what to say after she had opened the door. He shouldn't do this. Not now and not like this.

He took one final look at her house and thought about how she might be in there. As he drove away, he tried to comfort himself with the thought that as least she was still his best friend, but secretly he hated himself for chickening out.

* * *

><p>Unaware to Jane, someone had been filming him and was planning on making him hate himself even more than he did now...<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

Distracted Chapter Thirteen:

Jane got back to the CBI after midnight. He tried to keep his mind of the utter disappointment that tonight had been, but he had never been good with dealing with disappointment. Someone had told him once that highly intelligent people had a more intense emotional inner world. Well, he _hated_ disappointment intensely.

Knowing it was his only option for a situation like this if he wanted to appear chipper in the morning again, he retrieved to his attic where he lay down on his bed, sulking, until he fell asleep.

He awoke to the sound of someone calling out his name.

"Jane? Jane!"

He hadn't been dreaming about Lisbon, thank God he wasn't that corny yet, but she was the first thing he thought about when he woke. Of course, that could be explained by the fact that usually when someone woke him up, it was her.

This time, it wasn't her though. He knew, because he heard a man's voice. Besides that, no-one quite said his name like Lisbon did, he thought while he got up.

He felt really tired and had to fight hard not to let himself fall back on his bed again. The muffled voice on the other side of the door prevented it.

"Jane?! Jane, open up!"

He looked around his room and noticed there was no light coming from behind the thin curtains. He walked over to the door, curious about who would pay him a visit in the middle of the night.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..!" he semi-yelled.

When he unlocked his door, no-one could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him afterwards.

Wainwright nearly fell inside after Jane had opened the door. He looked pale as a ghost, dread in his eyes. Upon seeing Jane, he seemed to freeze up. He just looked at him with those panicky eyes, his mouth half opened, unable to get any words out.

Jane immediately noticed that this wasn't a moment to make fun of him.

"Wainwright? What time is it?" Jane asked.

Wainwright responded immediately.

"Six-thirty. Jane, you have to come with me" he said and sounded still out of breath from hurrying up the stairs to Jane's attic.

Jane looked puzzled at the man who always seemed so in control.

"Okay" Jane answered, hoping Wainwright would explain the situation while they walked to where-ever they were going. But as soon as Jane had agreed to come with him, Wainwright had turned around and stormed off already. Normally, Jane wasn't one to let himself get impressed by running cops, but something told him he should be this time, so he ran after the younger man as fast as he could.

Wainwright waited for him in the door opening of his office, motioning for Jane to sit down behind his desk. Jane looked expectantly from the computer in front of him to Wainwright, who had once again seemed to have frozen.

"What is going on?" Jane asked after several seconds of silence.

Wainwright came back to life again, acting more neurotic than Jane had ever seen him.

"I..I came in early today, about fifteen minutes ago. I have a big meeting at eight thirty, but yesterday my computer malfunctioned, so I figured I'd come in early today to fix it and prepare myself for the meeting. So I sit down behind my desk…" he rambled and when he glanced over at Jane he noticed his impatient look.

"… And I'm really glad, because all of the sudden my computer works perfectly again, without any effort. But then, just as I get ready to start typing, a file just downloaded itself to my computer. When I try to delete it, it turns out to be a video and starts playing. I…I can't tell you what I saw, I have no idea what this means, so that's why I came to get you immediately…" he concluded.

Jane looked at him with an incredulous look on his face. He still had _no idea_ of what was going on, but somehow he feared what he would see in the video while he clicked on the file.

The video started and Jane's mind started processing the information. The quality was bad. The camera shook nearly all the time and loud white noise was all they heard. It seemed to have been filmed from the inside of a car and showed a typical street. It was dark outside and there was no-one to be seen. Due to the darkness and the bad quality, Jane couldn't really see if he knew the street. Suddenly, the video zoomed in on the figure of a man sitting in a car in front of a house. He sat there for a while, looking at the house without moving.

Jane got as pale as a ghost. He knew that house. Even worse, he knew that man. The camera zoomed in on the sad, defeated look on the man's face and at that moment the computer screen could just as well have been a mirror.

Jane didn't look away, even when he felt Wainwright's stare fixed upon him. Instead, he watched himself drive away. His mind was racing. The thoughts that had occupied his mind when he had been sitting in his care there yesterday were still present at the back of his mind, but they were accompanied by a bunch of new thoughts. He watched the video continue and tried to make sense of what was happening. He hoped against hope that it wouldn't be as bad as it seemed right now. His heart was beating uncontrollably as he watched while the person behind the camera got out of the car and walked up to Lisbon's house. When he neared the front door, the camera showed that it wasn't completely closed.

Jane's mind became clouded with fear. It was the same fear he had felt when he saw the letter Red John had put on the bedroom door for the first time. It was a numbing fear, filled with desperation and self-loathing. _If only he hadn't been so…_

But contrary to what Jane expected, the person behind the camera didn't go inside. Instead, he walked to the side of the house where Jane knew Lisbon's living room was.

The camera stopped near a window. The curtains weren't closed. It was dark inside the house, without anyone to be seen.

Suddenly, the camera's angle changed and dropped. It took the camera a second to focus on the scene that was unfolding on the couch directly beneath the window.

Jane noticed that Wainwright had started to get even more uncomfortable and had stopped staring at Jane for the first time since the beginning of the video. He didn't have to wait long to find out what the reason was.

Jane watched Lisbon and Ardiles kiss passionately while he lay on top of her. She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it from his body. Lisbon seemed to be wearing a cocktail dress of which Ardiles was pushing the skirt up to the top of her thigh before letting his hand slip underneath the fabric. When Lisbon put her arms around Ardiles' naked back and pulled him close to her, Jane wondered how much more was coming, because it was already so much more than he could take.

Then all of the sudden, the video ended in a blood red screen. A dreadful feeling settled in Jane's stomach. He fought hard to keep the fear and panic from numbing his mind. Immediately, he looked up at Wainwright.

"Did you call Lisbon?" he asked.

Wainwright panicked.

"No… No. I..I… don't.. I don't know…" he stammered.

Jane pushed him aside to grab the phone to dial the only phone number he had memorized by heart.

It ringed.

Jane knew his absent-mindedness in this case would have its repercussions…

Wainwright rubbed his face. He looked younger than ever.

Out of nowhere, a text file popped up on screen. Wainwright looked at Jane questioningly.

"Open it" he beckoned.

The phone kept ringing.

Jane started to read the text just as he heard a voice at the other end of the line.

"Lisbon" he heard her saying, sounding very sleepy. He sighed with relief, but then he read what the text said.

"He was a distraction. He won't be anymore."

In his ear, Lisbon kept yelling "hello?"

Jane answered.

"Lisbon, is Ardiles with you?"

"Jane?" Lisbon asked surprised. "Why are you calling me? What? What did you ask? No, it's none of your business!" she muttered angrily. Jane interrupted.

"Lisbon, listen to me. Is Ardiles there with you?"

Lisbon was silent for a moment.

"No…" she said, sounding utterly confused. "No, he isn't…"

"Lisbon," Jane continued, "are you okay?"

Lisbon had started walking around her house.

"Yes. Yes, I'm okay. Jane, what's going on?!" she asked.

"Get here as quick as you can" Jane answered and waited for Lisbon to hang up.

He quickly got up from Wainwright's chair, offering it back to the younger man. Wainwright went to sit down, but still looked as clueless as before. Jane only took a moment to look at him before he walked out, telling him to call in the rest of the team, which Wainwright did immediately.

* * *

><p>At the same time as Jane went to lie down on his couch, Lisbon got dressed as fast as she could. While she tried hard not to let her thoughts wander, the facts still ran through her mind. Ardiles was gone, no trace left of him. He had promised her not to leave her like she had left him, but he was gone now anyway. And though she hoped it was just retaliation, she knew Jane wouldn't have called her to ask about Ardiles' whereabouts if it was. While her mind reached the only possible conclusion, she ran out of her house and got into her car. As she sat behind the wheel, she felt panic start to rise in her. Realization of what was happening dawned on her, complete with nausea and headache.<p>

Knowing the overwhelming fear and grief would paralyze her if she didn't deal with it soon, she did it the only way she knew how. Denial and avoidance kicked in automatically, numbing her until she felt able to start driving without thinking about what she would find when she arrived at her destination.

* * *

><p>In the meantime, Jane tried to lie still on his couch. He was nervous. Feverishly, he searched his mind to remember any details from the night before.<p>

Red John had been right behind him. What cars had been parked in the street? Had he remembered anyone sitting in a car?

Nothing.

He had been too emotional, too irrational to take in his surroundings, to be his normal observing self. Thoughts sped through his mind as he tried to focus on painting a detailed picture of Lisbon's street in his mind.

He remembered her house, the fact that it was dark inside. He had presumed that she was fast asleep. He had been wrong. And a coward. Could he have seen that her front door wasn't closed? He would have if he'd had just walked up to her house as he had planned.

God, Red John had been sitting in a car, filming him and he had been clueless about it.

Jane sat up again. He brought his hands to his face, rubbing it, hoping to get his brightness of mind back, something he seemed to have lost so gradually he couldn't remember when it had started. He knew exactly _that_ had been the reason they were all in this situation.

He felt so ashamed.

His previously observant, clear, bright mind had been preoccupied for weeks with thoughts of Lisbon and whether or not she was dating Ardiles. It had distracted him. Distracted him to the point where he felt as clueless about the Red John case as he imagined normal people were.

Normal people. What on earth was there to set him apart from them? As it turned out, he was average. He had fallen in love as any mere mortal did. The same emotions, the same hopes, the same doubts had been the primary occupants of his mind and had made him unable to live up to the expectations of greatness. Of being special. The pettiness of him had disappointed everyone.

For one, it had disappointed Red John. However malignant he was, through the years, it had seemed that only Jane formed a threat that he took somewhat seriously. Though now Jane figured that he probably had been nothing more than a toy to him. Red John had played with him like a cat did with a mouse he chose not to kill right away. And as a cat, when the mouse didn't run around anymore, taking away all the fun, he had given him one final slap to get him running around again. And frankly, Jane had no choice but to run.

He had disappointed Lisbon uncountable times in the past, with an increased frequency over the past weeks, but he knew this was a disappointment she wouldn't be able to overcome. Once she would see the video, she would know about his feelings. Red John would have done what he himself had been unable to do. Even Lisbon would understand this time what she meant to him.

But it wouldn't be beautiful. It wouldn't be special, or romantic, or even a moment of shy smiles. It would be ugly and sad, and disappointment would fill the air around them. Because once she understood what his feelings for her were, she would see the petty man he was and the exceptional failure that was his. Instead of catching Red John, he had been wondering what Ardiles' role in Lisbon's life was. Well, he had his answer now. They were dating, and if anything happened to him, he knew Lisbon would be devastated. And it would be his fault. Oh _how_ he wished that he had let Lisbon be happy with Ardiles. How could he have ever felt that other men weren't good enough for her when all he did was destroy her life.

"_Don't interfere with my personal life, only bad things come out of that"_ she had said. It kept echoing in his head. On top of the terrible shame, he now felt a dreadful fear. He feared the moment where Lisbon would watch the video and figure out what was going on. He feared how much she would hate him. He feared how hard he would fall from her grace. He feared for how she would see him for the pathetic loser he was. She wouldn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. They would be alone and unhappy.

But although he dreaded the moment he would have to face her without any answers, he had been impatiently waiting for her ever since she hung up the phone. Why wasn't she there yet?

Right at that moment, Lisbon walked up to the CBI bullpen she knew so well. The sight of her brilliant consultant _sitting_, instead of lying, with his face buried in his hands made her heart drop.

"Jane" she started insecurely, "what's going on?"

Jane looked up at her and immediately got up from the couch. He sighed and averted his gaze. He walked past her and she figured she should follow. Without knocking, Jane pushed the door to Wainwright's office open. As soon as her boss spotted her, he showed her a similar reaction to Jane's, moments earlier, by jumping up and quickly avoiding any eye-contact. As they walked in, he made his way to the door, nervously mumbling that he would leave them alone.

Jane motioned for her to sit down at the seat Wainwright had been sitting in. Lisbon looked questioningly from the laptop screen to Jane.

Jane knew he should give her a proper introduction before letting her watch what he was about to show her.

"Lisbon" he said and dared to look her in the eye again. "Wainwright received this video nearly an hour ago. He immediately came to get me and then we called you…"

He didn't know what else to say. Without further delay, he opened the video file on Wainwright's desktop.

While it played, he wanted to do nothing more than to flee the room just as Wainwright had, but as it turned out, he wasn't _that _egoistic and insensitive. So he remained where he was, studying the changing emotions in Lisbon's face.

Very early in the video she had looked up at him again, probably when she recognized him in the man sitting in the car in front of her house.

Jane swore that between the confusion, he had seen pity in her eyes and it broke his heart. He looked down and Lisbon looked back at the screen, to never look back at him again for the rest of the video.

The shock on her face when she saw her own unclosed front door was nothing compared to when a little later the camera angle dropped suddenly.

Jane looked away when she watched it. The shame he felt wasn't caused by seeing her having sex with Ardiles, but by what his feelings were about it, and what they had caused.

When the screen turned red, he had to fight through all his shame and open the text file Red John had sent only seconds after Jane had watched the video.

After she read the words, Lisbon kept staring at the screen, pale as a ghost.

"Did you call the others?" she asked.

Jane nodded, though she didn't see him.

"Lisbon," he started, his mouth dry and his voice hoarse, "I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault" she replied without looking at him.

After that, she stood up and walked out.

Jane watched her walk away. In seconds, he stood alone in Wainwright's office and he felt lonely. He knew Lisbon felt the same, but she had walked away from him and it had been clear to him what it meant.

When Wainwright's insecure face appeared in the door opening, Jane shook himself from his reverie. The man came walking up close to him, as if they were going to discuss delicate matters, but when he halted, it stayed silent. They exchanged brief glances. As if he had seen the defeat, shame and sadness in Jane's eyes, Wainwright suddenly got himself together and seemed like the in control, dependable boss again.

"Ah, when the team arrives, could you send them to me, please?" he asked.

Jane nodded.

"Could you perhaps not show them the video..?" Jane asked and Wainwright knew it was for Lisbon's sake.

"Of course" he promised and Jane walked out.

He was still doubting his destination, when he walked past Lisbon's office and saw her crying in her hands through the half-closed blinds. He couldn't look away, though it was the saddest thing and he felt his lip start to quiver.

He wanted nothing more than to be with her, but he didn't know what to do or say. He just wished she would let him stay in her life, that she wouldn't despise him. The idea that he may have lost her for ever made him know exactly how she felt.

But it wasn't over yet. After she had watched the video, she hadn't asked any questions, but even though they weren't many, he owed her the few answers he did have.

He walked into her office just far enough so he could close the door again. He stood there for an eternity, afraid that he wasn't welcome and she would tell him to leave. But she didn't. In fact, she said nothing. She had stopped crying and looked at him with a helpless sadness like only _she_ could.

It was too much for him. So after only a short moment of looking her in the eyes, he cowardly averted his gaze to fix his stare on a part of the wall behind her. He still felt her eyes on him though, waiting for him to say anything that would comfort her, or even make a little sense of what was happening to her.

It made him feel sad and ashamed and he let his head hang a little, still looking at the spot on the wall as if it was his lifeline.

He had to say _something_. He had to let her know how much it pained him that he hadn't been able to tell her his feelings and that it caused her all this hurt. It proved to be harder than he could have ever imagined.

"I'm sorry I've never told you before…" he said earnestly, genuinely sorry. He let his gaze drop from the wall to the floor, bowing his head even more. "I guess you know now anyway" he ended, hoping he would appear somewhat confident and not as pathetic as he felt.

Lisbon had been looking straight at him, but was now shaking her head in confusion.

"What, Jane?" she asked, getting frustrated.

He looked her in the eye for just the shortest of moments.

"How…" his voice cracked and became inaudible. He swallowed. "How I feel."

Lisbon just looked at him, not really believing or understanding what was going on.

"What?" she asked again, still confused, still frustrated.

Jane couldn't believe that they still couldn't get on the same page. How did she still not understand him? What did she want to hear from him? What else could he say?

"I'm sorry it ruined your life" he continued.

"Jane, please help me find him" she begged, not responding to anything he had said to her.

"Yes, of course" he answered. It dawned on him that Lisbon still didn't understand that this meant that he loved her. He sighed and decided that he would let it rest, currently having no clue what else he could do or say on the matter.

He met Lisbon's innocently confused eyes once more before he abruptly turned around and left.

Minutes later, he found himself lying on his couch, holding the Mary Chapman case file open over his head, studying it minutely. He realized that he had to solve the case to keep Red John satisfied, and that that was the last tiny chance to see Ardiles back alive. He let every bit of information he had on the case cross his mind, scanning it for patterns, hidden motives, relations, whatever could make a new lead.

He had no idea how much time had passed when he suddenly got shaken from his thoughts rather rudely by the noise of four, no, five voices that neared the bullpen. Cho. Rigsby and Van Pelt. Wainwright. And a woman. Not Lisbon.

FBI Agent Darcy. Darcy? What the hell was she doing here, this was literally a _private_ investigation. He chose to keep the case file close to his face when the group neared, hoping they would ignore him instead of start talking to him. First of all, it would be awkward and secondly, he needed to remain the focus he had found after leaving Lisbon's office. He heard Cho and Rigsby agreeing with Wainwright to go somewhere. He felt Rigsby's gaze on him for a few short seconds before he too left the bullpen. Van Pelt, as always, knew when to give him time and space and went to sit at the large table at the other end of the bullpen, studying pictures and rapports that she sprawled out on the table.

With Wainwright already back at his office, only agent Darcy found herself standing in his proximity.

The others' behavior had been predictable and exactly what he had wished for; a result of working so closely for years. But Darcy was oblivious to their unspoken rules of behavior. As he feared, she hesitantly neared his couch. He purposely kept covering his face with the file, but it was to no avail. This woman really needed to learn to pick up on signals.

"Jane…" she whispered so softly he almost didn't hear it and chose therefor to act as if he hadn't.

It only made matters worse. She went to sit down on his couch at the small free space next to his upper legs.

Jane removed the case file from his face and looked at her with a quasi-friendly face that betrayed so much annoyance even she would pick up on it.

"Agent Darcy" Jane sated, "what are you doing here?"

Darcy put on her typical Darcy face; lips pursed, frown in place, somewhat haughty look in her eyes.

"Your boss, special agent Wainwright, was professional enough to inform me of the recent events. Seen as this whole matter doesn't drip with professionalism, he has agreed with me that I will be following every step of this investigation from now on. Everything will be run by me. If it were up to me, this whole team would be suspended from the case seen as you are clearly way too involved, but the powers that be seem to be thinking that your _familiarity_ with the case will prove an invaluable asset to solving it… So…" she concluded her little speech with a satisfied look on her face that Jane found particularly peculiar.

"Cut the crap, Darcy" Jane said, a grim smile on his face, "what are you implying?"

"Oh come on, Jane" Darcy sighed, lowering her voice again. "You're hanging around agent Lisbon's house like a love sick teenager, while she's sleeping with the A.D.A., whom you _coincidentally_ probably got murdered…"

Jane frowned, trying to hide his curiosity at her blunt statement.

"What are you saying there, Darcy? That _I _kidnapped, maybe even killed Ardiles? You think_ I'm_ RedJohn?" he asked.

Darcy shook her head. "No, of course not. All I'm saying is that this isn't _As The World Turns_. Your mutual involvements just make you all a liability to this case. You_ knew_ that_,_ lately, Red John almost exclusively acts in response to something you said or did. And because you were too busy being upset about Lisbon and her boyfriend, he decided to do something about it. And now Lisbon is blaming you for it, obviously…"

Jane hated that he let himself get worked up like this, but he couldn't refrain from interrupting.

"What do you mean, _'obviously'_? Why obviously?"

Darcy frowned even more.

"_You_ of all people shouldn't have interfered with her personal life. But you did, and now look what happened" she said matter-of-factly. "And now her anger at you is something that I have to deal with as well while we try to solve this crime. You see why all this doesn't sound professional to me?"

Jane looked at her with a face that said 'you make me sick'. More like _screamed_ it. Darcy only shrugged once before she stood up.

"Anyway, I was just coming to ask you how you were, but I see you're busy, so I'll let you get back to your work then" she said and walked away from him.

Only when she was gone far enough so she wouldn't be able to see his face, raised Jane his eyebrows as he had felt like doing from very early on in his conversation with Darcy. He closed the case file and put it down beside his couch. He turned on his stomach so he was looking in Van Pelt's direction.

"Grace!" he whispered rather loudly. She looked up from whatever she was reading. He beckoned her to come over with his hand.

She stood up and walked over to him, surprise on her face.

"What?" she whispered, intrigued by the incredulous look on his face and the fact that they apparently needed to whisper.

"Did you just hear that?" Jane asked her while he kept his voice down.

"Hear what?" Van Pelt asked.

"What Darcy just said to me!" he answered.

Van Pelt looked a bit confused.

"No. No, I was busy reading and you were talking very quietly. Besides, I always try not to eavesdrop, grant people their privacy" she answered truthfully.

Jane nodded, staring to nothing in particular, squinting his eyes a bit, while just a tiny smile formed on his lips. Outsiders might have described it as a crazy look, but the team knew it as his realization face.

"What is it?" Van Pelt asked with curiosity in her voice.

"When Cho and Rigsby went to visit the FBI for more information on the person that blacked out nearly the entire trial report, did they manage to find when this has happened?" he asked Van Pelt.

After working with Jane for all those years, she still couldn't quite get used to the jumps he made in his mind.

"Ehm, yes! Yes, they did, but I… I can't remember. It wasn't much use to us then, so I never wrote it down, sorry" she apologized.

In the meantime, Jane had already grabbed his cell and dialed Cho's number.

"Jane" the voice on the other end of the line stated.

"Cho, do you remember what year the report from Mary's trial had been censured?"

"2003, why?" he asked.

"Get back here as quick as you can" Jane said, in hindsight a little too theatrically for his own taste.

Van Pelt just quirked an eyebrow at him.

He got up from the couch and motioned for her to follow him to her computer. She went to sit behind her desk.

"Can you find out for me when Darcy started working for the FBI?" he asked, whispering again.

Van Pelt stared typing while Jane looked around to make sure no-one would walk in on them.

"2003" Van Pelt stated

Jane smirked full blown now. He started to walk around the bullpen mumbling "I knew it". The smile on his face caused by the rush of finally getting something right again quickly disappeared when Lisbon's office came into his view.

This little breakthrough was still nowhere near enough to give Lisbon some hope. He had to give her more. He quickly paced back to where Van Pelt was still staring at her computer screen, probably hoping to find out what '2003' meant.

When he came to a stop next to her, she looked up at him.

"Jane, what's going on?"

Before he answered he looked around again, checking if no-one was listening in on them.

"2003 is the same year someone _from the FBI_ censured the file from Mary Chapman's trial…" he whispered. Van Pelt kept giving him a blank stare.

A little taken aback by this, Jane frowned. Sure, he had been whispering, but he had put a great effort into presenting his statement as theatrically as he always did when explaining a case or a trick to them. Maybe she was a little slow this morning because they had to rush into work so early.

"The sister's name was _Susan…_" he tried again. Van Pelt gave him an awkward smile and looked sideways for a second.

"_Darcy's_ first name is Susan!" he sighed.

Van Pelt broke their eye contact. She hesitated for a moment before she spoke.

"Look, Jane, I know where you're going with this…" she started.

'_Not going anywhere, already arrived at the destination_' Jane thought while he tried to await her response patiently.

"… But I don't think this is enough evidence to start suspecting colleagues. I know it must be hard for you not being able to help Lisbon find whomever ki-…dnapped Ardiles…" She paused to give him an empathetic look, "but let's just focus on the information we have gathered so far."

Jane had to fight hard not to roll his eyes and walk away, because he knew she meant it well. But still, she was delaying him and in times like these they had to let him do what he was hired for. What he was best at.

So he managed to keep looking at her straight through her entire speech, but as soon as she was finished, he spoke again.

"Yes, and the year of Darcy starting work at the FBI and de trial file being censured matching up is part of that information too!" he stated.

Van Pelt sighed.

"Why did you even start to suspect Darcy all the sudden? Just because she walked into your view?" she asked sarcastically.

Jane shook his head.

"It's because of what she said to me just now, how I was responsible for Ardiles' d-…isappearing, and that Lisbon blamed me as well. It was totally inappropriate, no empathy at all. I'm telling you, there's something off about her…" he said.

Van Pelt had started to look compassionately at him again, as if she tried to make up for Darcy's lack of empathy he was telling her about.

"Jane…" she said softly, "you know how people can get around you sometimes… Just, let her. Don't pay attention to it, she probably didn't mean it like that anyway."

This time Jane did roll his eyes and huffed.

"Grace, we're wasting valuable time here. Can you please try to find anything else about Darcy that could link her to Mary? Birth place, schools, jobs, anything" he asked.

Van Pelt sighed while she turned back to face her computer screen.

Just at that moment, Rigsby and Cho came walking in.

"So what's the news?" Rigsby asked eagerly.

Van Pelt answered before Jane could.

"Jane thinks Darcy has something to do with the victim" she said dryly.

Both men looked at Jane expectantly.

"It's more of a hunch, really…" he started out cautiously, suddenly feeling unable to convince two other critics yet.

"Yeah, what is it?" Cho asked.

"Well, as you mentioned, 2003 was the year the case file from Mary's trial was censured by someone from within the FBI, blocking out any detail on the mystery 'sister'. But as it happens, 2003 is also the year Darcy, whose first name coincidentally is Susan as well, started working for the feds" Jane told them.

"That's it?" Cho asked, looking as stoically as ever.

"Well, that, and the fact that she was ridiculously mean to me in this time of distress…" he added honestly.

The two men kept quiet for a moment.

"So… you think Susan _Darcy_ is Mary _Chapman_'s mystery sister?" Rigsby asked, trying to hide his confusion.

"She could have pretended to be her sister, like anyone would find out" Jane responded.

"I guess… But wouldn't Mary have found it weird that a stranger would pose as her sister?" Van Pelt asked.

"She was schizophrenic, even _if_ she would have mentioned it to someone, probably no-one would take her seriously" Jane answered again.

"Those are all assumptions. We don't have any solid proof that she has something to do with our victim" Cho said. "Besides, why would she go visit a schizophrenic stranger at a mental facility?"

Jane sighed. "Look, I don't know the details yet. I just got the idea twenty minutes ago. But it's a hunch of mine and Lisbon would have supported it" he said and tried not to sound like a whining toddler.

"You haven't told Lisbon about it?" Cho asked again and Jane swore he saw something _knowing_ in his stoic stare.

"No" he said, sounding a little too defensive. "As I said, I only came up with the idea a few minutes ago and immediately shared it with you guys, but I see now that I shouldn't have, since you've only been holding me up by asking me all those questions."

"Alright, I guess we can discuss it with Lisbon, see what she has to say" Cho said.

Jane wasn't really looking forward to undergoing yet another painful moment with her where he would disappoint her again. It seemed though as if Cho knew it, and by opting to talk to Lisbon first before pursuing his idea, he was testing Jane's confidence in it. Well, he hadn't been lying when he said that he thought all this was relevant information. And though his hunches hadn't been too great lately, overall he had been more often right than wrong. So he would go talk to Lisbon, although that didn't mean that he liked having everyone else with them as well.

"Fine" Jane said lightly. "I'll go talk to her. In the meantime, can you try finding anything to link Darcy to our victim?" he said, addressing all three of them before he started walking towards Lisbon's office.

Of course, Cho followed suit.

"Rigsby and Van Pelt can manage that. I'm coming with you" he said and Jane had to let him because he had heard the hint of protectiveness for Lisbon's wellbeing in the other man's voice.

Before they entered, Jane knocked again. Cho stayed perfectly still, but Jane knew he must have found it strange that he hadn't just barged in like he always did. After they heard a soft "come in", they walked into her office. Cho walked up to her desk, while Jane lingered a little in the back.

"How're you holding up?" Cho asked Lisbon.

Lisbon nodded faintly, probably in hopes of looking more reassuringly. "I'm fine" she said.

Cho left it at that.

"Jane has a theory that we wanted to run by you to hear what you think of it" he announced.

Jane knew it was his cue to start convincing them that he was right, but suddenly he felt overwhelmed by some form of performance anxiety, and Lisbon hopeful eyes staring directly into his didn't help him one bit.

"Well, a plan, that is, I had a hunch, but it's a strong one. It's just… we shouldn't get our hopes up, yet" he stammered.

Lisbon kept looking hopeful at him nevertheless.

"Okay" she said, "what is it?"

"Alright, well, I have a strong feeling that agent Darcy is involved" he stated. Lisbon looked surprised but said nothing, which Jane took as a note to continue.

"She came to talk to me half an hour ago, supposedly to ask me how I was" Jane said, relating the earlier events. Lisbon interrupted.

"Darcy's here? Why?" she asked.

"Wainwright called her. Said she needed to be involved" Cho answered.

Lisbon frowned.

"Strange" she said. "Nobody told me. And she didn't come to ask me how_ I_ was…"

"Exactly!" Jane said, happy that someone finally agreed that this was all very strange. The fact that Lisbon hadn't sounded sad, but more as if she was musing out loud made him feel a little more at ease. Of course Lisbon would always understand him. Except in one particular kind of situation, but that currently wasn't an issue.

"She didn't ask me how I was either, mind you" he continued. "It was more like she tried to make me feel worse. She said all kinds of nasty stuff, one could say rubbing salt in the wound, and then just left."

Lisbon had listened carefully.

"You think she's working with Red John?" she asked in suspense.

"Could very well be" Jane answered.

Lisbon sighed and slumped back into her chair.

"What evidence do we have to link her to the case?" she asked, all business, carefully hiding any personal feelings.

Cho had been watching their conversation and had found it remarkable how easily they communicated when discussing business. If only they were able to do the same when it came to their private life, they probably wouldn't even be in this situation. What a bitter irony, he thought while Jane explained the matching years of Darcy starting at the FBI and the case file being censured to Lisbon.

"Could be a coincidence" Lisbon responded.

Jane cocked his head and looked at her. Lisbon gave in eventually.

"Okay, maybe not! But why would she go visit Mary Chapman? She wasn't her real sister… And why go through all that trouble of erasing her last name from the file, but still use her real name when she visited Mary?" she asked.

"Perhaps she posed as the victim's sister. If the sister's real last name was gone from the files, she could pretend to be the sister by using her own name" Cho opted.

"Yeah…" Jane responded, thinking as hard as he could. "But if she really was working for Red John, he wouldn't have let her take that risk. He would have made her use the sister's full identity…"

All three stayed quiet after that, trying their best to come up with a theory that would explain everything. Nothing came to their minds.

"I don't know about it, Jane. I can see why you don't trust her, but there's no real evidence that she has anything to do with the victim" Lisbon eventually said and to Jane, it almost sounded as if she was sorry _for_ _him_.

He sighed and looked down. Just when he was about to give up on his theory and go back to his couch to think of a new one, Rigsby stormed in, the excitement dripping from his face.

"Guys" he said and tried to sound solemn, "I think you need to see this".

They walked after him to Van Pelts desk. She pointed toward her screen.

"Mary's mother's last name is Darcy" she said.

Rigsby looked at Jane. "Looks like you were right all along."

Jane had no time to gloat. He had to make sure his suspicions were right.

"Grace can you find out for me who Darcy's parents were?" he asked.

Van Pelt shook her head. "No, we tried, but that information is blocked by someone from the FBI as well."

Jane looked at Lisbon.

"Probably Darcy herself" Lisbon said, keeping her voice down.

"But how do we prove it?" Rigsby asked.

"I may have a plan" Jane answered.

* * *

><p>Darcy sat at the emergency office that was reserved especially for occasions like these. She was typing busily on her laptop when Van Pelt knocked at her semi-opened door.<p>

Darcy looked up and spotted the young agent standing in her doorway.

"Come in" she said and smiled friendly.

Van Pelt looked around before she walked in and closed the door behind her. She looked somewhat nervously, Darcy thought.

"Agent Van Pelt, what can I do for you?" she asked.

Van Pelt hesitated. "Well, ehm," she mumbled. "This morning when you and Wainwright briefed us, you said that we had to run everything we had on the case by you, right?"

Darcy nodded, trying to await patiently where this was going.

"Well…" Van Pelt started again. "A few days ago we found out that the case file of Mary Chapman's trial was censured by someone from within the FBI. So they asked me to find a way to find out who exactly had done it. In order to do that I had to gain access to the FBI's database, so I used some new software to enter new lines of code into the syntax-"

"Yes, agent, can you go to the part that I need to know about?" Darcy interrupted, not understanding much of Van Pelt's computer lingo.

"Right, yes" Van Pelt said apologetic. "So anyway, when I got to the database this morning, Jane asked me to cross-reference Mary Chapman's personal data with all data in that database, and…" she said, hesitating whether she should continue or not.

"Go on, Van Pelt, it's okay" Darcy encouraged her.

"Well, I found that you have the same parents as Mary Chapman. You're her sister."

Darcy kept staring at her intensely, without moving a muscle. After what seemed like an age to Van Pelt, the older woman sighed and looked down.

"It's true" she said. "She was my sister."

"But why didn't you come to us immediately after you found out that your sister was murdered?" Van Pelt asked.

Darcy seemed to be getting upset. "I, I, I don't know," she stuttered, "I was confused and sad. No-one from within law enforcement knew she was my sister, I've made a great deal of ensuring that…"

Van Pelt pressed her lips together like she did when she felt sorry for someone.

"I'm sorry for your loss…" she said. "But you have to come forward about it, explain it to the team. Because when I show them the information I've found, they will surely think that you have something to hide… That you're… _involved_ in the murder and everything. Besides, as you know, if you don't come forward it's an obstruction of justice."

"You're right, agent Van Pelt. And I'll promise you that I will inform the team about it today, but can you please give me some time?" Darcy asked. "When we grew up, our father was schizophrenic and eventually committed suicide. My mother managed to take care of us by herself through it all. When Mary turned out to be a schizophrenic, I was just building a career for myself. It hadn't been easy growing up with my schizophrenic father, and I didn't want my sister to destroy my adult life as well. Having a mentally ill sister might be considered a liability and I feared I wouldn't be able to get where I am today if people knew about Mary. So I took my mother's last name and once I got a job with the FBI, I made sure my name got deleted from every document that had to do with Mary. But I still visited her and tried to look after her as best as I could. I guess now it doesn't matter anymore whether people know or not…"

For a moment she looked as if she was about to cry.

"God, Darcy, I didn't know…" Van Pelt said softly. "I'm sorry. Shouldn't you be at home? Take it easy for a while?" she asked empathetically.

Darcy shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine. Just like Lisbon I would like to help find the person responsible for our beloved's deaths."

Van Pelt decided not to comment on the fact that Darcy had implied that Ardiles was already death, while they didn't know that for sure yet, but instead opted for a simple "Okay".

Before Van Pelt could leave the room, Darcy looked directly at her once more. "Please, Grace, will you not tell them until I get the chance to tell them myself?" she asked.

Van Pelt nodded and left the room.

When she walked past Lisbon's office, Jane caught her eye. They exchanged a meaningful glance, before Van Pelt looked away and walked over to her desk at the bullpen as if nothing was happening.

* * *

><p>Cho took the headphones off and let out a small, barely audible sigh.<p>

"So, what do you think?" he asked.

Jane looked at Lisbon. She seemed hesitant.

"She could be telling the truth," she said. "It sounded as if she got a little emotional for a second."

Jane frowned.

"I don't buy a word she's saying..!" he responded while he shook his head. "She looks _nothing_ like a woman in emotional pain. She maybe _tried _to act as if she got emotional about her sister's death, but in reality she's stone cold. Hasn't cried at all, probably won't ever shed a tear about Mary being murdered. I say we should arrest her."

Lisbon looked at him with a sad, hesitant look on her face. "Jane…" she said.

Jane felt that familiar spark inside him well up again. The spark of determination, of resilience, that, at least temporarily, killed the self-loathing and self-pity that lived inside of him. He was going to fight, if not for both their happiness, then at least for Lisbon's.

"Oh come on guys, don't tell me she managed to fool you?!" he asked, no longer going easy on Lisbon. As he expected, instead of breaking down at his defiant words, Lisbon fell back into their normal routine easily.

"We don't know that she hasn't been crying! She could have used good make-up to cover it up..!" she answered.

"She must have gone through a great deal of trouble then to cover it up, even go so far as to cover up her blood-shot eyes. I'm telling you, that woman isn't the least bit sad about her sister's death" Jane answered immediately.

"Who's to say she wasn't upset when she heard? Maybe she had to cry when she was at home…" Lisbon opted, still thinking Jane's conclusion was a bit premature.

He rolled his eyes. "If she was upset, she would have been unable to sleep well, she would have bags under her eyes… Her shoulders would be slumped, the corners of her mouth would hang, her eyes would look sad…" he said while his eyes were fixed on Lisbon.

Lisbon looked away and tried to come up with an answer that would convince Jane that he had to get more proof before he accused Darcy of anything.

"Okay, well, then maybe she didn't need to cry. Maybe she's just a tough agent, maybe she didn't really have a bond with Mary!" Lisbon said, getting a bit worked up.

"Lisbon, _you're_ a tough agent and you cried..! You cried for someone you've only liked for a week!" he blurted out.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Lisbon shot back at him.

"Nothing" Jane quickly stated and realized he should have thought about his words. "It's just that if she were anything like a normal human being, she would have seemed more upset."

The angry expression on Lisbon's face disappeared a little.

"Alright, I'll go talk to Wainwright" she said.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Lisbon stood in front of Wainwright's office with Jane right behind her. She knocked on the door and entered. Wainwright looked surprised at the pair standing in front of him.<p>

"Hey... What can I do for you guys" he offered softly.

Before Lisbon started talking, she mentally prepared herself for any reaction from him, from sympathetically ridiculing their plan to a blunt reprimand for accusing a colleague.

Surprisingly though, Wainwright stayed quiet during her whole explanation and started to get paler after each word she said. After a while Lisbon hesitated if she should even continue, since the fact that Wainwright was now burying his face in his hands in dreadful panic suggested that there was more to the story than she even knew.

Jane decided to ask the question that was on Lisbon's mind as well.

"What's going on?"

Wainwright stayed quiet a little longer. He was still hiding his face in his hands when he spoke up eventually.

"I let her take all the Red John files…" he said.

Jane and Lisbon looked at each other in confusion.

"Sir, what do you mean? Like copies of our files?" Lisbon asked, dreading the answer.

Wainwright still looked down.

"The actual files. Everything is gone from the CBI…" he answered and sighed in desperation.

Lisbon's mouth fell open after this revelation. Her face would have been stuck with this incredulous expression if she wasn't startled by Jane's loud question.

"WHAT?!" he shouted.

Wainwright tried to offer an explanation.

"She came asking for them a few months back, said it was mandatory since the FBI was taking over the investigation. She and a few other agents came collecting them shortly after…"

"And you let them?!" Jane shouted angrily. "What were you thinking?"

Wainwright was about to defend himself when Lisbon intervened.

"We need to talk to Darcy about this right now. There is still a chance that there's a perfectly good explanation for all this" she said with a voice that betrayed more panic than she had hoped to let on.

Just as Jane and Wainwright seemed to calm down, Rigsby came barging in.

"Darcy just took off, didn't say where she was going" he told them.

Lisbon looked from Jane to Wainwright before she stormed outside after Rigsby.

Before Jane could follow suit, Wainwright called to him.

"Jane, I'm sorry. We'll get her. Look after Lisbon, will you?"

Jane nodded briefly before leaving the room just in time to catch up with Rigsby and Cho, who were running down the stairs after Lisbon.

Lisbon got in a separate car, but Jane managed to climb in the passenger seat before she took off. Van Pelt had seen in which direction Darcy had gone after leaving the CBI lot, but that was all the information they had. The car ride was awkward. All things left unsaid lingered between them as a thick cloud. Jane felt the undeniable urge to explain himself to her, but he couldn't find the words. While knowing he should accept his defeat, he couldn't give up just yet. He secretly glanced over at her in hopes of catching some of her thoughts or feelings. Could it be that she honestly wasn't angry with him? Could they still be friends after this? Did she know he wanted to be more than friends?

"Jane, stop staring at me" she said, her tone sharp.

She _was _angry at him.

"I'm sorry, Lisbon, I'm so sorry. You should know how I feel, I should have told you sooner" Jane responded feverishly trying to fight for her. She cut him off in a way that made him wonder if she paid any attention to what he was saying.

"Stop, Jane. Please stop talking."

He slumped back in his chair. Lisbon was speeding, even though they didn't know for sure they were going the right way. Jane decided not to comment on it.

Suddenly, the bitterness between them lifted for a bit when they both spotted the same black FBI standard SUV.

They didn't speak up immediately. Instead, Jane grab the radio and contacted Rigsby.

"We think we found her. Check this license plate" he told him while Lisbon started to read the plate out loud.

"It's Darcy" Rigsby stated shortly after.

It took all her effort not to start speeding again, but Lisbon knew they should try to find out where Darcy was going.

"Could still be a reasonable explanation for all this" she mumbled, repeating her earlier statement.

Jane knew it was best to stay silent, so he did. Until he noticed where they were heading.

"She's going to the mental facility" he stated.

He knew that looking over at her might elicit another growl, but he needed to see how she was doing, even if she undoubtedly wouldn't accept his comfort.

To his surprise, once he let his gaze rest upon her face, she turned and looked back at him. Those big, green eyes locked with his for just a moment, but it was enough for him to see the whirlwind of emotions going through her and most of all the pleading look she gave him to help her through all this – including making sense of her feelings. After she looked back to focus on the road and the car they were following, Jane figured he might have never taken his eyes off of her, if it hadn't been for the panic on her face and the curse that left her mouth.

"Dammit!"

Jane looked back in front of him and noticed the black SUV was missing in the increasingly busier traffic. They both scanned the cars around them.

"I think that's her" Lisbon said, mentioning a black SUV a few hundred yards away from them. She disappeared behind a truck and they didn't spot her again.

"Shit!" Lisbon said sharply. "Where the hell did she go?"

Jane tried to find any clues that could tell her which way she had went, but none of it was substantiated.

"I don't know" he said honestly. "But I think checking the mental facility is our best option."

Rigsby contacted them over the radio and Lisbon responded by telling them they were going to head to Mary Chapman's old room.

* * *

><p>They parked at the visitor's entrance, but couldn't find Darcy's car yet. Lisbon and Jane got out of the car, searching feverishly, proceeding head over heels. Cho therefore did something he normally never did: Stop the dynamic duo when they were on a roll. It was something he rather refrained from, not only because he didn't want to stop what mostly led to a breakthrough, but also because it felt like imposing on something private between them. This time though, he had to, because otherwise it could cost them the mission and things far worse.<p>

"Guys."

He called out only once, but it was enough to make them stop and turn to look at him. He motioned for them to come over to where he and Rigsby were standing. He sighed and directed his attention at Lisbon.

"Boss. I need to know if you're alright. We need to do this the right way. If you're not okay, I totally understand, but then I'm going to take it from here" he told her. Lisbon fell silent for a second.

"I'm okay. You're right" she acknowledged his concern for the way she had been handling things.

They decided that Rigsby would cover the back entrance. Once they cleared the places surrounding the building, they went inside. Cho checked the room while Lisbon made her way to the receptionist's desk, with Jane following her.

"Excuse me ma'am" Lisbon calmly asked for the receptionist's attention. The woman smiled friendly and Lisbon managed to return it.

"Hi, we're CBI, ma'am. We are currently investigating the death of one of the facility's clients…"

"Yes" the woman said, turning serious, "I've heard about it. How can I help you?"

"We were wondering if you might have seen this woman around here before?" Lisbon asked and showed her Darcy's picture.

The woman raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"As a matter of fact, I have. Many times, too. She just came in a few minutes before you, asking to see her sister's room one more time…"

Lisbon and Jane exchanged meaningful looks. Cho joined them and Lisbon was just about to inform him of what the receptionist just told them, when the woman spoke up again.

"It was really awkward, because we already had to use the room for a new patient that was brought in this morning. We asked her to come back another time, but she wouldn't listen, so we had to tell her. We normally try to inform the relatives of the deceased before having someone new occupy the room, but it was an emergency and we needed the room on such a short notice. But she took it really well, so… I believe a nurse went upstairs with her to visit the room, since the new guy is still sleeping off his sedation. She would only be a few minutes. It's not decent, I know, but-" she rambled but got interrupted by Jane.

"Tell me about the new guy" Jane quickly asked, putting the pieces together. From that moment, everything happened extremely fast, but to Jane seconds felt like hours. He waited for the receptionist, that seemed a little caught off guard by his sudden question, to answer him, while he kept his eyes from looking at Lisbon with all his might. Whatever the answer would be, it would be bad news and he dreaded Lisbon's reaction when it came, knowing that it would be his fault. And then the baffled receptionist started talking again.

"Eh, he was brought in here just a few hours ago. Heavily medicated, but it appeared that he needs all the medication. The paramedic that brought him in told us he used to be a lawyer and could get very convincing and troublesome when he didn't get enough tranquilizers. It may seem harsh, but they need it when they're checked in here at first-"

She got cut off again, but this time by Lisbon.

"What did he look like?" she asked, her previous calmness fading quickly.

"Eh, a bit exotic; dark hair, tinted skin, not very tall…"

Before the other team members could look at Lisbon to see if she thought the same and way before they could form a plan of action, Lisbon had stormed off to the room she remembered used to be Mary's.

Jane ran immediately after her while Cho contacted Rigsby and told him where to meet them.

* * *

><p>Lisbon found Darcy laughing at the man she had shoved to the side of the bed he was lying on, so she could stand upon it and push against a ceiling tile. Lisbon drew her gun and screamed at her to get her hands in the air and get down on the ground. Jane halted in front of the scene, taking a few seconds to process it. Cho caught up with them in no time and backed Lisbon up, repeating her actions from a few seconds earlier.<p>

Jane watched Darcy's face as she just kept laughing. Cho didn't wait any longer and stepped inside to pull her down himself. While he cuffed her, Lisbon called out to the staff members that had gathered around the room to call an ambulance. She and Jane entered the room simultaneously.

Jane went to stand upon the bed to see what had been hidden in the ceiling. It appeared to be boxes with case files, all on Red John cases he presumed.

"Hey Lisbon, you have to see this" he called out and hoped to impress her, but when he didn't get any response from her, he looked down.

She sat kneeled beside Ardiles, clasping his hand and stroking his hair and face. Jane wasted no time coming down.

"Jane, he's unconscious" Lisbon whispered desperately.

He kneeled beside Lisbon and looked at his rival.

"He probably injected the drugs into his veins, but in case he also had to take pills, we need to get him to throw up" he told Lisbon, while he started moving Ardiles to his side.

"Lisbon, can you go find me a spoon. And some water if possible."

She nodded and hurried away.

Cho was still busy with Darcy, dragging her out of the room and calling for backup to take her away. Rigsby stood idly by the door, not knowing what to do.

"An ambulance is on its' way" he stated.

"Good" Jane said. "Can you get every staff member that has been in contact with Ardiles in here?" he asked. Rigsby nodded and asked the crowd of people that had gathered in the hallways.

Lisbon came rushing back and handed Jane the spoon and a bottle of water. He put in into Ardiles' mouth and pushed until he had to throw up.

After what seemed like hours of sitting idly by his side, EMT's came rushing in to take over. Jane asked the three staff members that had stayed after Rigsby's request to tell them what they had given Ardiles after his admission. They gave them all the information they had while the EMT's took Ardiles away on a gurney, Lisbon hot on their heels.

Jane stood still and watched Lisbon leave. He realized his part was over. There was still vomit on his suit. He heard Rigsby call the local PD as backup to get all the boxes of case files back to the CBI. Cho came walking over and offered him a ride back.

"Sure".

Jane got in the car and they drove back in silence. Back at the CBI, he went upstairs to his attic and changed clothes. He hesitated what to do next. If he knew for sure Lisbon would want him around, he would do it in a heartbeat. But she probably didn't, so he decided to pay Darcy a visit in jail and hope to at least get something valuable from this total disaster.

She sat in a highly guarded cell, especially reserved for the most dangerous of criminals. She smiled slightly when Jane entered. Jane sat down opposed to her and just looked at her for some time.

"Trying to determine your strategy of breaking me, Jane?"

Jane shook his head and leaned back. Darcy continued.

"Good. I would hate to see you waste your time on me. I have nothing to say. See, I'm just as big a nut case as my sister. I'm a crazy person, I have no use for the government and I certainly can't give any reliable information on Red John…"

Jane didn't react.

"After my trial, I will be locked up in a mental facility, like my sister, where I will have to take so many pills that after a week I will have completely forgotten who I am. And if worse comes to worst, I might even accidentally overdose at some point."

Darcy smiled. Jane shook his head and sighed.

"All that anger, all that loathing towards your sister… I get it, growing up with a father like yours. But it has blinded you from the truth. Your anger came first and caused all the horrible events in your adult life, not the other way around. Your anger towards your father made you an easy and susceptible target for Red John. He would be the father you never had. But then your anger turned towards your vulnerable sister and you _made_ her into a schizophrenic, Susan."

Darcy's smile had faded but otherwise, she seemed unaffected. Jane continued.

"Let me explain the situation to you here. You have gone behind Red John's back too many times. He'll never let you live. You were a burden to him, so he killed your sister to let us find out what your role in all this was. He wanted to long ago, but you convinced him to put Mary in a mental asylum, because you figured she was just like your father, a schizophrenic. But the fact that she went to the police after you told her about you and Red John, wasn't because she was insane. She was trying to protect you. By saying that she was Red John, she tried to put the suspicion away from you in hopes of you changing your life. That's not something a crazy person does. With your testimony and your family history of schizophrenia, she was put away in this asylum and destroyed by having to take too many medication. You chose Red John, while you could have had a sister in your life…"

When he paused, Jane noticed her eyebrows frown ever so slightly. He continued.

"There's a chance to make this right, a chance to revenge the death of your wronged sister. Tell me about Red John. Tell me about the man that killed her" he said.

Darcy narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together. She took one last hard look at him, before she broke their eye contact and glanced over his shoulder.

"I will say no more" she said, and kept to her word.

Jane stood up and left. He had no idea if it were true what he was saying about Mary. She probably really was schizophrenic, but it was worth a try, he thought as he sauntered back to his attic.

Even more fed up with the world than usual, he let himself fall back on his bed and tried to get some sleep until he heard a knock at his door.


	14. Chapter 14

Distracted Chapter Fourteen:

When he walked over and pushed to door aside, it revealed Lisbon. She looked up at him and her emerald eyes seemed even brighter than usual.

They stood close to each other.

"Come in" Jane said, but had no intention of stepping back and thereby away from her. She brushed past him. He turned around and walked in after.

They went to stand in the middle of the room, both looking at each other. Lisbon inhaled deeply and broke their stare. She pointed half-heartedly at his shirt.

"Good, you changed your shirt" she said rather shyly.

Jane looked down at his shirt as well.

"Yeah, that eh, that was no problem at all."

"Good, good. And thank you" Lisbon blurted out without looking at him.

Jane nodded. "No problem" he said and wondered how everything had gotten so awkward between them.

Lisbon looked up at him.

"I mean thank you for saving him" she said sincerely. "Especially since I know you never liked him."

Jane let his head fall and looked down.

"It's not that I don't like him… It's just that I don't like that another man makes you happy. But I guess I hate seeing you unhappy even more…"

Jane kept looking down and Lisbon kept looking at him. Neither of them spoke. How was it that opening up to the person you loved was so hard?

"So…" Lisbon started barely audible, "What's the meaning of all this?" she asked and nervously avoided looking at him.

Jane looked up. He hesitated for a moment. What did she mean? What's the meaning of his words? Or their conversation? Or did she mean her boyfriend being kidnapped because his obsession with their relationship imposed on his obsession with haunting Red John?

Of course he knew what she meant. But telling her exactly what his feelings were proved to be difficult since he himself didn't even know it for sure. So he struggled for words but couldn't come up with any.

"You mean the meaning of life? Pfft…" he sighed jokingly.

Lisbon didn't respond and he stole a guilty glance at her.

Jane knew that she must have had at least a clue about his feelings for her, but he also knew she wouldn't believe it until she heard him say it himself. And though he might fail miserably, for her he would give it a try. Looking down at his shoes, he started.

"Well, I… The meaning of it is…" he stuttered uncomfortably. He noticed her moving her head, trying to catch his eye. He looked up at her and smiled shortly.

Lisbon looked at how he stood there. With his blonde curls and shy smile he almost had a boyish look over him, and for once not the troublesome, naughty kind. His sea green eyes locked onto hers. He seemed completely lost. She knew how hard this must be for him. She knew how far he had come telling her what he had already told her. She wanted to give him a soft smile, telling him it was alright and leave it at that. But she _needed_ him to go on, to say what needed to be said. So she waited.

He inhaled suddenly and spoke up.

"I guess I always expected that you and me would end up together."

He waited for her reaction. She blinked.

"Silly me, huh?" he added and tried to laugh casually.

She kept looking at him with those big eyes, and try as he might, for the life of him he couldn't figure out what was going on inside her head. If nothing ever came from this night, he should at least be completely honest with her and not have to regret holding back or spending too much time weighing his words. He stared deeply into her eyes like he had wanted too for a long time, and sighed.

"I know I'm lousy with you, but without you I'm a loser."

'And I love you' he said in his head.

She blinked again and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Thank you" she said.

She doubted for a second if she should hug him instead, but she allowed herself to kiss him on the cheek.

She brought her face close to his and let her lips touch his skin for the shortest of seconds. She had intended to leave it at that, but she couldn't make her body retreat. Her hand stayed placed on his chest, her body so close to his she could feel his warmth and smell his scent. Her lips lingered just above his skin, so close Jane could feel her breath on his cheek and it made his heart beat faster. He turned his head slowly. Lisbon didn't move. He looked down at her face. She had closed her eyes. Her lips were slightly parted, as were his and her shallow breathing was like his own. If there was ever a time to give in to his desire for her, it was this. Their mouths were directly in front of each other, separated only by the smallest fraction of an inch. He closed his eyes in anticipation and arousal. And then he moved – or maybe she did, he wasn't sure. Their lips touched, softly brushing against each other.

She felt it was only right, to let their lips meet for once in their lives. After all, it would be a farewell as well as a thank you. Of course it was the sweetest kiss she ever had. Even the knowledge that she could never have more couldn't make it bitter, but it did make her realize she should stop.

It cost all her discipline to end it and retreat, and when she did she almost cried.

But she had to. She had chosen Ardiles. This was goodbye. So she broke the contact between their lips and tried to put some space between them. But to no avail, because Jane's lips still hovered near hers and when she retreated, his mouth kept following her. He threw his arms around her body and pulled her close. It was all the resistance she could muster and in one wave of blissful surrender she let her mouth be drawn in by his.

Their lips came crushing down on each other and they were kissing, feverishly. He pulled her body flush against his and kissed her and kissed her.

She had always known kissing him would be unlike anything she ever felt. God, how she loved him. He was her soulmate and the most amazing man she ever met. And at last, he was _finally_ showing her his feelings.

Everything he had secretly been feeling for all these years, been wanting to tell her and show her came out in this kiss. He had her, in his arms, kissing him back. It was unlike anything he had known his life to be so far.

They broke their kiss. He stared at her with a bewildered expression. She didn't know what to do now that reality seemed to hit them in the face. He looked at her for a little bit longer, and then left the room.

* * *

><p>A couple of days later, Jane walked down from his attic. He hesitated for a moment to go over to Lisbon's couch, but chose his own instead. They hadn't really talked after their… moment. In all honesty, he knew she would never dare to bring it up, too embarrassed and probably too afraid that he would hurt her like she knew he would. So she soldiered on, acting as if nothing happened. She hadn't visited his attic again though, and he hadn't lain down on her couch.<p>

Jane walked past her office through the bullpen. He knew that if they were ever going to talk about it, he should be the one to initiate it. But frankly, he wasn't planning on it. Did he regret kissing her? Not at all. Did he keep thinking about it? All the time. But he wasn't ready, whatever the outcome of their chat would be. Yes, she was beautiful and hot and sweet and smart and… perfect, really, but it would all be wasted on him. He wasn't looking to be in love, and he wouldn't be able to give her what she deserved.

So, that's that, he thought to himself as he got to the couch, glad to have finally regained control over his feelings again. Just as he was about to plop down, he heard a voice calling out his name.

"Jane!"

Jane watched with surprise on his face as Ardiles made his way towards him. Instead of his usual fancy suits, he wore a dark grey t-shirt, jeans and a black sweat vest. Aside from seeming a little skinnier, he seemed well, especially considering…

Jane greeted him and decided to leave out the sarcasm for once.

"Ardiles. Glad to see you're doing well."

Ardiles was silent for a moment and nodded. He sported the same solemn look he had had when they were about to enter the house during the case they worked together a lifetime ago. Jane took this moment to look around and saw Lisbon standing not far from them, a somewhat worried look on her face. He broke their eye contact when Ardiles spoke up.

"Yes, I am doing well. And I want to thank you for that, Jane" he said and looked him in the eye.

Jane was a little taken aback. It almost felt awkward to have Ardiles say thank you to him, while he kissed his girlfriend when Ardiles was still hospitalized. He looked over Ardiles' shoulder to see Lisbon looking just as awkward and confused as him.

"Teresa told me what you did to save my life. I know we haven't always been seeing eye to eye, but I wanted to say how much I appreciate what you did for me… Thank you for rescuing me, I know it must have been hard for you to help the guy that has stolen Teresa from you. It takes a great man to do that" he ended his speech and extended his hand to Jane.

Jane knew the smart thing to do was to accept his words of gratitude and shake his hand. Leave it at that, everyone happy… or at least content. But Jane felt that was not going to happen. He may not be ready yet, and he may not even know for sure how Lisbon felt about him. They may keep dancing around it for years and years to come and it may all end in disaster.

One thing Jane knew for sure: whatever it was between him and the beautiful woman looking so uncomfortable right now, it was worth waiting for and he was going to love every second of it. There was just too much that needed to happen between them. She was special. Who knew were they would be five years from now? He would be damned if he let this guy take it from him.

'_It must have been hard for you to help the guy that has stolen Teresa from you. It takes a great man to do that'._ Pfft… The arrogance! So Jane accepted his hand and shook it.

"Yeah… about that…" he started with a quasi-apologetic smile on his face. Before going on with this particular story, he figured it'd be best to avoid any physical contact so he ended the handshake. Ardiles fought hard to keep the annoyed look off his face, while Lisbon went in full panic mode.

"We kissed" Jane said matter-of-factly, unable to keep his trademark smile off his face. Ardiles smile faltered and Jane had never been happier to see his smug, dominant, condescending attitude crumble to pieces.

He glanced over at Lisbon. She looked down at the floor, careful to avoid looking at both of them. In fairy tales, he would sweep her off her feet and carry her out with him while he left, but he knew that probably wouldn't go over very well in real life. Lisbon peered up slightly, secretly stealing a glance at him. Their eyes locked. At least the future is still open for anything, who knows, he thought and it caused the brightest of smiles to spread on his face. When he saw a hint of the smile Lisbon was trying to contain, he knew they would be alright.

He made the mistake of looking back at Ardiles before he left, and had to pay for it by the feeling of Ardiles' fist landing hard on the side of his nose and his cheekbone.

THE END

A/N: A huge, enormous thanks to everyone who has read this story. It has been an honor. I appreciate every single reader, reviewer and follower more than I could ever tell you. Also, I'm very sorry for taking so long with this story. There are no excuses. I wanted to complete this before tonight's finale and I'm glad I managed to do at least that. So, now that's done, I'm going to try to mentally prepare myself for the show's ending, all the while trying to keep believing there will be another season some day.

Lots of Love,

PP


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